Updates Coming Soon

I have been slammed with work the last 12 days, but I never stopped kickin' out the jams. Posts soon on:

1. Joanna Newsom
2. Sly & the Family Stone
3. Upcoming Graham Central Station with Slave concert
4. Johnny Thunders
5. The Dead Milkmen
6. "The Loudness Wars"
7. Book review of "Best Music Writing of 2008" edited volume
8. The return of Pavement

...and some more stuff too. Stay tuned, mofos!

Today was a Day for "Nigeria Disco Funk Special"

The 10th day of gloomy early spring weather had me reaching for the 2008-released funkified collection Nigeria Disco Funk Special that covers the 1970s funk scene in the capital city of Lagos. There have been a plethora of supreme African funk/rock 70's compilations in the last several years, and this is one of the best. It is available on CD and the usual places online.

Track 1:


Official album promo blurb: Lagos Nigeria – the funk & disco capital of West Africa from 1974-79. More nightclubs, bars, spots and dance-floors than any place along the coast from Dakar all the way to Kinshasa. The only 24 track recording studio in the same stretch with more DJs & imported American LPs and 45s than any of it’s neighbours. Soundway presents 9 slabs of rhythm from a time when Saturday and Sunday nights in Lagos City were for looking good and going out. All of them vital musical feathers in the Lagos DJ bow alongside the latest Brass Construction, BT Express & James Brown imports that were hot off the plane.

Track 5:


Helps to groove those clouds away as the funk rays shine down, mofo.

Nigeria Disco Funk Special: Th...

Today was a Day for the new Jimi Hendrix 180g Vinyl Releases

Actually, to be more specific, it was a day for the 1 new release and 4 new re-releases that just came out on Tuesday. I'm sure you have heard the hype for Valleys of Neptune [best album review that I have seen for it is here at the Telegraph, though this one at Popmatters is quite good at updating the big picture of Jimi's studio work], the first new officially-released Hendrix studio recordings in 13 years. The fine folks at the family-run business Experience Hendrix also re-released Jimi's other 4 big studio albums--his original 3 and the 1 other quality posthumous release from 1997 (First Rays). I was able to pick up all 5 of these LP's on some beautiful 180g vinyl:

1967's Are You Experienced? by the Jimi Hendrix Experience (1LP)
1967's Axis: Bold As Love by the Jimi Hendrix Experience (1LP)
1968's Electric Ladyland by the Jimi Hendrix Experience (2LP)
1997's First Rays of the New Rising Sun by Jimi Hendrix (2LP) 
2010's Valleys of Neptune by Jimi Hendrix (2LP)

In order to pay for recent big music purchases, I have been selling some of my CD's to downsize my collection by a bit in order to reinvest the monies elsewhere. Of my 2,400 or so CD's/CDR's/bootlegs I have put about 125 of the original CDs up for sale on Amazon.com. Thus far I have sold around 60 which has given me several hundreds of dollars to play with for "new" music purchases. I suppose the question you might be asking is why I am selling CDs to buy more vinyl? Let's just say the short answer is that I think the vinyl will last longer. And I got rid of some of the crap in my collection and replaced it with stuff I otherwise wouldn't be able to afford (the 5 Hendrix vinyl releases, the 10-CD Complete Hank Williams, and the 13-CD Beatles Mono Box, etc.).

But anyway, back to my new Hendrix LPs. They are glorious. Wonderful packaging/artwork and perfect vinyl discs. They were pressed in one of the best plants making vinyl in our current times. There is not much I can say about the first three albums that hasn't been said. If it has been a while since you pulled them out and played them, give 'em a spin (either on vinyl, CD, or digital). You won't be disappointed. The same can be said for 1997's First Rays--a very fun listen.

As to the "new" album, Valleys of Neptune, I'll write a more extensive review sometime soon that explores the nature of posthumous releases in general and two albums in specific. It will be a review of the latest Hendrix release coupled with an album review of the latest (and last) Johnny Cash American Recordings album (which I also picked up on vinyl earlier in the week.) Not sure when I can get around to that, but hopefully soon. Until then, spin some Hendrix, mofos!

Today was a Day for Steve Almond and Toto (Special Book Preview Edition)

I am so looking forward to Steve's new book Rock 'n' Roll Will Save Your Life: A Book by and for the Fanatics Among Us (with Bitchin' Soundtrack) that comes out in April!
Preorder on amazon.com for $15!

As detailed here on Steve's site, this is going to be one of the great music-related books of the year:

Who is the book for?
Drooling Fanatics.

What's a "drooling fanatic"?
I couldn't shake the notion that we had gone wrong somewhere, that we belonged to some special category of the thwarted. We spent an inordinate number of hours mourning the fact that we had not wound up as rock stars or one-hit wonders or near-misses or bar bands or wedding bands or KISS cover bands or midget KISS cover bands. We had wound up, instead, as wannabes, geeks, professional worshippers, the sort of guys and dolls who walk around with songs ringing in our ears at all hours, who acquire albums compulsively, who fall in love with one record per week minimum and cannot resist telling other people—people frankly not that interested—what they should be listening to and why and forcing homemade compilations into their hands and then calling them to see what they thought of these compilations, in particular the syncopated handclaps on track fourteen.

Any defining symptoms?
Chances are, we've loaned money to musicians.

Chances are, we were DJs in college and had a show with a name so stupid we are vaguely embarrassed to mention it now, though we are quite happy to mention that we were DJs in college.

Chances are we've spent weeks in puzzled anguish over why our favorite band isn't more popular, given how much the songs on the radio suck, though if our favorite band suddenly hit it big we'd feel more resentment than pride.

Chances are, the only periods of sustained euphoria in our lives have been accompanied by music.

Is drooling fanaticism contagious?
I've been trying to make the case—in my own discombobulated case-making fashion—for Drooling Fanaticism as a spiritual condition, that music is, for certain of us, the chosen path toward what William James called "a larger, richer, more satisfying life." James was talking about God, but I'll happily regard that as a term of convenience for That Which We Worship with Irrational and Perhaps Head-Banging Glee.

In fact, I'm willing to argue at this point that we are all Drooling Fanatics, that every single human being carries within her or him the need for music and that we differ only in matters of degree and expression.

What sort of stupid things do drooling fanatics do?
Once his manager was gone, James Cotton turned and, as if noticing me for the first time, said, "You suppose you could do me a favor, young man?"

"Of course," I said.

"I need to get some medicine."

"Sure," I said.

This would make awesome color for my story. What could be better than fetching medicine for a dying, legendary bluesman? I pondered what sort of medicine the old fellow might need. Hopefully it would be something dramatic, such as nitroglycerin tablets.

"We gotta drive somewhere," Cotton said.

He was whispering and so I whispered back, "Okay, let me get my friend. He has the car."

"Hurry now," Cotton said.

It did not occur to me to question why Cotton had entrusted this medical task to me, rather than (say) his manager, or a person in some way affiliated with his tour. I was really a very sheltered human being. Nonetheless, I fetched Holden and Cotton stood up and placed himself in our custody.

"You all got a liquor store around here?" he said.

I understand the book includes several "obnoxious lists." What sort?
Ten Things You Can Say to Piss Off a Music Critic
1.Sonic Youth—are they the ones that do "Pass the Dutchie"?
2.People who don't like Steve Miller should fucking move to Canada.
3.Jack Johnson is our generation's Woody Guthrie.
4.Don't you sometimes wish "Free Fallin'" were the national anthem?
5.Do me a favor and hold my beer. Thanks, dude. I'll be right back.
6.Yeah, but have you ever seen Michael Bublé play live?
7.Don't you wish these jazz dweebs would learn to play a real song?
8.Exile on Main Street is okay, but it's no Steel Wheels.
9.Did you ever want to be, like, a musician yourself?
10.Paradise Theater is an American classic.

What was it like for you to cover the Grammys?
Here's what I figured would happen: I'd arrive at the Shrine Auditorium and there'd be this giant diamond-studded vacuum device which would suck me into the inner sanctum of The Music Industry, a softly lit pillow lounge sort of place where Prince and Springsteen would be jamming with the remaining Beatles and someone would hand me a drink and I'd get spun into the arms of Linda Ronstadt, who would be dressed in a mariachi garter-belt type ensemble and who would muss my hair in aroused proto-cougar fashion and reach into my back pocket and toss my reporter's notebook away and laugh girlishly, then whisper into my ear that her "needs" would have to be met before she could go out and do her song, and by the way could Toni Tennille tag along?

In the event, I spent three hours standing in line outside the Shrine Auditorium, the wrong line it turned out, a line intended for those media with "floor credentials," which explained why the others in line were so tan and nicely dressed and attractive, why they had monstrous heads and blinding teeth and hair that didn't move: they were TV reporters. The situation was clarified by a kindly security official named DeWayne, who directed me to a second, much uglier line in the back of the building, located downwind from the septic outflow. Ah yes, the Shrine Auditorium's anus.

What, in your fanatic opinion, are songs supposed to do?
They remind us that emotions are not an inconvenient and vaguely embarrassing aspect of the human enterprise but its central purpose. They make us feel specific things we might never have felt otherwise. Every time I listen to "Sunday Bloody Sunday," for instance, I feel a pugnacious righteousness about the fate of the Irish people. I hear that thwacking military drumbeat and Bono starts wailing about the news he heard today and I'm basically ready to enlist in the IRA and stomp some British Protestant Imperialist Ass, hell yes, bring on the fucking bangers and mash and let's get this McJihad started. I feel these things despite the fact that:

a. I am not Irish
b. I sort of hate U2
c. The song actually advocates pacifism

What else is in the book?
■Sometimes drunken interviews with America's finest songwriters
■The terrifying specter of Graceland stoned
■Recommendations you will often choose to ignore
■A reluctant exegesis of the song "Africa" by Toto

Can you talk a little about the mating habits of drooling fanatics?
Did I honestly believe Elise lacked the emotional depth required to be involved with me simply because she loved Air Supply? Was this even possible? Indeed, wasn't my willingness to dismiss this woman based solely on her earnest devotion to a soft rock duo proof of my own spiritual disfigurement?

In a word: possibly.

What was it like to visit your musical heroes?
It will sound hokey, but I honestly felt like I was standing in a holy place. I had 559 Bob Schneider songs in my iTunes library. I had listened to his music for entire days at a time and thought about him, in some capacity, every day for the past five years. I recognized the chance that we would run off together was extremely low, but I also believed—and I think Drooling Fanatics cannot help themselves in this regard—that I understood Bob in a way nobody else on earth did, that we were soulmates and though he didn't know this yet he had a secret message to impart. This is perhaps the most annoying aspect of Fanaticism, from the musician's point of view. They owe us nothing beyond their songs, but we keep hounding them for more.

Why was it so hard for you to interview Dave Grohl for SPIN magazine?
Because there was a protocol, predicated on the fact that a reporter was an interloper, a non-famous person, an envoy, in fact, from the larger world of non-famous people. The idea that a non-famous person would make a demand on the time of a famous person is inherently offensive to the keepers of celebrity.

Journalists are dependably loyal to this protocol, because their professional stature depends on access. When that access is promised then suddenly denied in irrational ways, when you are basically standing around in a strange place far from home with an unctuous publicist as your only ally, it makes you angry, but more than that it makes you very very needy. I hope this helps explain why, the first time Dave Grohl spoke to me, approximately 59 hours after we were first supposed to meet, six hours before my return flight to Boston, I was so instantly grateful, so starstruck, so possibly and confusingly in love, that I could only nod my head and fight back tears.

What did Ike Reilly teach you about rock and roll?
It occurred to me, as we cruised along the darkened shoreline of Minear Lake, that this was the central allure of rock and roll: the creation of a personal mythology. Rock and roll allowed people to lie about themselves, and to be sanctified for the extravagance of their fictions. This was how a mama's boy from Tupelo became our gyrating Jesus, how a nasally Jew from Hibbing, Minnesota, reinvented himself as a hipster messiah. Rock had enabled Ike Reilly to buy Gatsby's mansion and still shout the savage truths of punk rock.

How about Boris McCutcheon?
Music lay at the center of everything. He had led us astray and risked the injury of his lead guitarist, but now, as the sun set over Buzzards Bay and golden light flooded the room and dust motes made wild circles around his head, we stood behind him swaying and nobody said anything for a long time. Later there was dinner and booze and pot. Boris busted out his guitar and played a few new songs. He was writing all the time, between gigs and travel and the jobs taken and not quite kept. We all waited, in those months, for what he would write next, our desire being not a greed for proximity or ownership, but for particular forms of beauty and what they might reveal about ourselves.

Are you concerned about your children inheriting your fanaticism?
So Josie and her little brother will probably dream of being rock stars, too. Why not? They'll grow up with two parents who dreamed of being rock stars, in a house filled with instruments those parents can no longer play. And probably (this must be said) they won't be rock stars. How many of us get to be? But what they will have, what we all get, is the chance to be Drooling Fanatics. And I hope they feel as I do—a bursting gratitude for those musicians brave enough to speak the first and final language of our hearts.

Finally, how will Rock and Roll Save My Life?
One song at a time.

Read Out the Jams, Mofo: "Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music" by Greg Kot [book review]

Greg Kot has been a music columnist, blogger, and reporter for the Chicago Tribune since 1990. His previous book, Wilco: Learning How to Die was published in 2004.  Kot's new book, Ripped:  How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music, came out in May 2009.  The book is a collection of re-worked and expanded essays that Kot wrote over the last decade and covers all sorts of interesting topics that explore the intersection of technology and music. Each chapter focuses on an issue (filesharing, the political economy of record labels, the death of print music magazines and the rise of internet music sites, etc.) and/or a band/musician (Prince, Bright Eyes, Death Cab, Wilco, Arcade Fire, Metallica, etc.) that is trying to play/succeed under the new rules of the game in the music business.

Kot writes very well and has a deep knowledge of both the 'music' and 'business' sides of the music business. While some of the chapters bog down a bit in repetition of the core argument(s), most of the book is a quick, fun read that explores music-related topics that are currently of great interest. I particularly enjoyed the Prince chapter and found the smattering of quotes throughout the book from 'young people' about their views on music and downloading to be quite interesting. In addition, one certainly gets the feeling after reading the book that the big music labels might have been able to save themselves at some point earlier in the last decade, but they made crucial errors in judgment and fell into the sea-of-music-business-oblivion without enough life preservers as a result of their mistakes.

Verdict: Recommended if you want a readable synopsis of where the music business has been and where it is likely going, written from the perspective of someone that has followed the industry for over two decades.

Lucky Record Collector 1, Clueless Librarians 0

Wow. Heckuva story from Chatanooga, TN:
Library Tosses Rare Vinyl Record Collection

Today was a Day for "Florida Funk -- Funk 45s from the Alligator State" by Various Artists

Although I cannot absolutely pinpoint the reason(s) why this is the case, I listened to some funk most every day in February. March thus far has been a continuation of February--a bit (or a bunch) of funk every day and/or evening on the office or home speakers.

Today's album is yet another of the Jazzman/Now Again Records compilations of '60s and '70s singles that was gathered by some professional funk music collectors and put out in a series of wonderful geographically-based releases. The album was researched and compiled by Gerald Short, Malcolm Catto, and Angelo Angione and was the 3rd in the series. Florida Funk -- Funk 45s from the Alligator State was released in 2007 and covers the Florida funk scene from 1968 to 1975. It can be found on CD at amazon.com and at various places online for download.

This one has a lot of James Brown and Caribbean influences alongside the deep time period funk grooves. Like I did for my posting on the label's Midwest Funk compilation, I'll let the official album introductory notes do the rest of my work for me:

...have now spent the past 3 years travelling the length and breadth of Florida – trekking through the everglades to snatch rare 45s from the jaws of 20ft gators – before escaping back to the UK with an amazing selection of music that highlights Florida as one of the funkiest states in the USA! From driving percussive instrumentals by obscure small-town groups, to heartfelt slabs of soul; from tropical Latin grooves to funk 45s so raw that they were blessed by James Brown himself!

Florida Funk - Various Artists

Today is a Day for "Ordinary Millionaire" from the album "Propellor Time" by Robyn Hitchcock (forthcoming, 2010)

Color me excited. One of my very favorite artists, Robyn Hitchcock, continues to crank out the albums. I just pre-ordered this one on vinyl. Propellor Time comes out on March 22nd on Sartorial Records. Here is an advance single from the album (and BTW, Johnny Marr is on guitar on this song):



From the official album promo press release:
Over the past three decades, UK singer/songwriter/guitarist/painter/actor Robyn Hitchcock has amassed an extensive and distinguished body of work that has established him as one of rock music’s most respected and beloved iconoclasts. A musician’s musician, and still criminally underexposed despite a long history of critical appreciation, Hitchcock’s vivid surrealist song craft has over the years earned him a devout international fan base – including filmmaker Jonathan Demme who in 1998 directed Hitchcock’s live performance film Storefront Hitchcock, shot in a derelict shop window on 14th Street in NYC.

A prolific renegade and visionary cult artist, Hitchcock has released numerous albums with his longstanding outfits The Soft Boys and Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians, as well as his own ample solo work of which Propellor Time (Sartorial Records) is the very latest. Recorded at home in London’s Tropic of Hounslow over the Summer of 2006 and beyond, Propellor Time is no single-handed effort: The Venus 3, Hitchcock’s backing band for this recording boasts the rhythm section of Scott McCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows) on bass and Bill Rieflin on drums (formerly of Ministry and Revolting Cocks). Making a rare appearance as a sideman outside his usual group, R.E.M.’s Peter Buck (on 12 string and acoustic guitars) completes this esteemed line-up and is co-writer of the album’s title track with Hitchcock. This same Venus 3 configuration of Buck, McCaughey & Rieflin appears on Hitchcock’s 2006 release Olé Tarantula!, and were featured in John Edginton’s BBC Four documentary Robyn Hitchcock: Sex, Food, Death… and Insects. Additionally, a star-studded array of illustrious guest musicians collaborate with Hitchcock on Propellor Time; selected tracks feature contributions from John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin/Them Crooked Vultures), Johnny Marr (The Smiths/Modest Mouse) who co-wrote the track he plays on, “Ordinary Millionaire” with Hitchcock, old pal Nick Lowe; and former Soft Boy/Egyptian band mate Morris Windsor among many other notables.

Out March 22nd 2010, Propellor Time is Hitchcock’s second release on Sartorial Records, its predecessor being 2008’s Shadowcat (a collection of ‘90s outtakes). But 2009 was hardly a fallow year for Hitchcock having seen the advent of both a studio album Goodnight Oslo (on Yep Roc Records with the Venus 3), as well as the recently released live concert DVD, I Often Dream Of Trains In New York, shot by acclaimed director John Edginton and featuring Sartorial head honcho and multi-instrumentalist Terry Edwards. Having recently participated in Graham Coxon’s Power Acoustic Ensemble concert at The Barbican, Hitchcock will be making several other special appearances in the run-up to the release of Propellor Time.

Today was a Day for "This Nation's Saving Grace" by The Fall (1985)

This Nation's Saving Grace is one of The Fall's stronger releases, and certainly the best from their "middle period". The album reached #58 on the British charts after its release in 1985.



While the band has put out countless singles and 45's over the years, they have also released 27 studio albums. This one is in my top 5 of their releases. It can be found on CD and many places online. Mark E. Smith and The Fall kick out the blistering-sarcastic-and-loud jams, mofo!

This Nation's Saving Grace - T...

Today was a Day for "Gotta Groove" by The Bar-Kays (1969)

As history turns out, Gotta Groove is a somewhat influential album of the 60s in terms of album samples later incorporated into a fair number of high-profile rap/hip-hop albums (by Ice Cube most notably). And it signaled where one strand of funk and R&B was going to be headed in the 1970s--with some rock/pop cross-over song selection and a hard-driving rhythm section. The Bar-Kays, a Stax band through and through, put out Gotta Groove 18 months after four of the original members of the band died in a plane crash near Madison, WI on December 10, 1967. Also killed in that crash was Otis Redding. The members of the Bar-Kays were touring with Otis and serving as his backing band. Two surviving members, trumpet-player Ben Cauley (who survived the crash) and bassist James Alexander (who wasn't on the flight), reformed the band. Gotta Groove came out in 1969 and contains some nice vintage funk grooves:

Black Rock/Gotta Groove - The ...

Illustrate Out the Jams, Mofo: "Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country" by R. Crumb [book review]

A couple of good friends were kind enough to give me a wonderful addition to my music book collection last month. R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country was first published in 2006.  The book contains the collected prints (108 of them!) by Crumb from his 1980s illustrations that were featured on 3 different sets of trading cards of classic blues, jazz, and country musicians.  Each illustration is accompanied by a capsule biography of the artist in question.  A fan of these types of music, Crumb pays his tribute to the legends of the genres, but also selected some relatively obscure artists.  Every turn of the page is a feast for the eyes.  The book also comes with a CD of some of Crumb's favorite selections from 21 of the artists--7 each from the jazz, blues, and country sections. 

Here is a cut from one of Crumb's featured artists--"Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues" by Skip James from 1931. It is a favorite song of mine as well:

Today was a Day for Cheap Trick's "Heaven Tonight" (1978)

I picked Heaven Tonight up on NM vinyl recently at an area thrift store.  This is the third album by the Rockford, IL band that rose to some arena-rock prominence in the late 70's and into the 80's.

In early November of 1998 in Minneapolis, after walking out of the Target Center following a Bob Dylan concert (which we attended with front row tickets!), I was given a bunch of comp tickets by some First Avenue (the downtown Minneapolis nightclub that helped to launch the careers of Prince, the Replacements, Husker Du, etc.) volunteers. I am not sure if it is still common, but during the mid-90's to the early-00's, 1st Ave. would circulate a fair number of complimentary concert tickets to boost crowds at their wintertime shows. On this particular night after the Dylan show across the street from 1st Ave., we secured a couple of handfuls of comp tickets, including a pair for a Cheap Trick show that was coming up later in that week, in early November of 1998.

At the time, Cheap Trick was on a nationwide tour of select cities where they were playing a 3-night stand of their first three complete albums from the 1970s in each town. They played a complete album, track by track, on each of the nights (album 1 on night 1; album 2 on night 2, etc.). A good friend and I went to one of the 3 shows on their Minneapolis stop. We saw night #2 and 1977's In Color album. The opening act was local art punks (and Devo/Talking Heads carry-the-torchers) Flipp.

The show itself was pretty good. I had never been a big fan of Cheap Trick and, to be honest, my core knowledge about them revolved around memories of slightly skanky older girls in my high school wearing "Cheap Trick 86", etc. shirts while they smoked cigs around the corner from the school gym. But anyway, the show was pretty darn fun. We got to see them play In Color straight through, and then they played another half-hour of other songs. The real magic of the night happened in the encores, however. They introduced their friends who had played across the street earlier (at the much larger Target Center) and asked us to welcome them to the stage. Out bounded Steven Tyler and the rest of Aerosmith! Cheap Trick and Aerosmith proceded to kick out the "Train Kept a Rollin'" jams for a while. It was maybe the most amazing rock moment of my concert life. And this is coming from a guy who isn't really much of a fan of either band and who has seen several hundred concerts over the last 2 decades. It was mofo-ing awesome!

For what it is, Heaven Tonight is a very fun listen. It is CT's best album and the wall of heavy, crunchy sound is set within a nice production job that was done in the studio. Listen to some late 70s arena rock from Rockford's finest, mofo:

Heaven Tonight - Cheap Trick

Today was a Day for Dylan's "Street Legal" (1978) in general, and "Changing of the Guards" (Side A, Track 1) in particular

Changing Of The Guards (Album ...

Sixteen years,

Sixteen banners united over the field

Where the good shepherd grieves.

Desperate men, desperate women divided,

Spreading their wings 'neath the falling leaves.

Fortune calls.

I stepped forth from the shadows, to the marketplace,

Merchants and thieves, hungry for power, my last deal gone down.

She's smelling sweet like the meadows where she was born,

On midsummer's eve, near the tower.

The cold-blooded moon.

The captain waits above the celebration

Sending his thoughts to a beloved maid

Whose ebony face is beyond communication.

The captain is down but still believing that his love will be repaid.

They shaved her head.

She was torn between Jupiter and Apollo.

A messenger arrived with a black nightingale.

I seen her on the stairs and I couldn't help but follow,

Follow her down past the fountain where they lifted her veil.

I stumbled to my feet.

I rode past destruction in the ditches

With the stitches still mending 'neath a heart-shaped tattoo.

Renegade priests and treacherous young witches

Were handing out the flowers that I'd given to you.

The palace of mirrors

Where dog soldiers are reflected,

The endless road and the wailing of chimes,

The empty rooms where her memory is protected,

Where the angels' voices whisper to the souls of previous times.

She wakes him up

Forty-eight hours later, the sun is breaking

Near broken chains, mountain laurel and rolling rocks.

She's begging to know what measures he now will be taking.

He's pulling her down and she's clutching on to his long golden locks.

Gentlemen, he said,

I don't need your organization, I've shined your shoes,

I've moved your mountains and marked your cards

But Eden is burning, either brace yourself for elimination

Or else your hearts must have the courage for the changing of the guards.

Peace will come

With tranquility and splendor on the wheels of fire

But will bring us no reward when her false idols fall

And cruel death surrenders with its pale ghost retreating

Between the King and the Queen of Swords.

--Copyright ©1978 Special Rider Music

Rare live vid from Nashville '78 (tracks fast but we'll take what we can get):

Today was a Day for "Rare Funk Liberation, Vol. I" by Various Artists

The 1999 release Rare Funk Liberation, Vol. I by the UK label Goldmine/Soul Supply contains two things in spades that make it a fantastic listen:  1) 18 tracks of rare, deep, hard funk from a bygone era (late 1960s & early 1970s).  2) A relatively large percentage of female vocalists.  While the CD is out of print, you can find downloads of it various places online.

Track 1, "Good Things" by Pearl Dowell:


Track 6, "Strike" by Union:

13.69% of the Way Through 2010: Any Good Albums Yet?

Well, we are nearly 14% of the way through 2010 and I have yet to hear an album that impresses me to any great extent, but there are two that are right on the cusp of clinching positions on my best of 2010 list...

What are some of the 2010 albums that I have listened to thus far and disliked?

*Vampire Weekend - Contra: I find them to be very, very boring. I thought their first album was lame but this one is even worse.

*Spoon - Transference: Ho-hum, painting by numbers by this Austin-based band. Maybe they will lift from the holding pattern sometime again soon, though this might be a band that has simply exhausted the supply of possibilities.

*The Magnetic Fields - Realism: Arrghh, I had such high hopes. Just makes me want to put on 69 Love Songs instead. Not bad, but just disappointing. Still better though than most new stuff I have heard.

*Beach House - Teen Dream: Can I have that 20 minutes (before I switched to something else) back? Do we really need a new Cocteau Twins?

*Cold War Kids - Behave Yourself EP: They seem to be headed in the wrong direction

*Los Campesinos! - Romance is Boring: I know this has gotten good reviews, but sounds like LC! tune retreads mixed with "oh-so-edgy-lyrics" to my ears. I liked Hold on Now, Youngster but these last 2 have been tepid.

What have I listened to from 2010 thus far and find growing on me?
*Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM: I might even love this album if it wasn't for Beck's overproduction and "studio cleverness" which gets in the way on some of the tracks. Beck oftentimes suffers from the "Lanois Overeach Syndrome (LOS)" which is the tendency to use too many bells and whistles (figuratively and literally) in the studio just because you can. Sometimes soundscapes can add to the music; sometimes they can subtract. Luckily the album doesn't suffer from the rarer "Manu Chao Siren Syndrome (MCSS)" which is the tendency to employ a siren on every 4th song on any album he records or produces.

*Ray Wylie Hubbard - A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There is No C): While currently in the lead for worst album title of 2010, I like the music on this album a whole bunch but need to listen to it more.

What am I missing? I haven't had a chance to hear too much new stuff yet this year as I have mostly been listening to 1970-77 funk and 1975-79 Brit and American avant-punk for the last many weeks.

I am holding out hope for new and upcoming releases from:

*Gil Scott-Heron
*Watson Twins  [edit/update Feb. 24:  Ok, well, this album isn't so good]
*Peter Gabriel [edit/update Feb. 24: Ok, well, this album isn't so good]
*the final Johnny Cash American Recordings album [so says Rubin; but we have heard this twice before (after the Unearthed box and American V); this time he promises] (I have preordered it on vinyl)
*Robert Pollard
*David Byrne and Fatboy Slim (a concept album about Imelda Marcos? I am so there!)
*Drive-By Truckers
*The Hold Steady (though I am worried about what Franz's departure means for albums and shows by the band)
*Jimi Hendrix (I have already preordered "Valleys of Neptune" on double-vinyl)
*Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
*New Pornographers
*Willie Nelson (new one produced by T-Bone Burnett that comes out mid-April)

Today was a Day for "Midwest Funk -- Funk 45s From Tornado Alley" by Various Artists

Incredible 2004 Jazzman/Now Again Records compilation of 1960s and 1970s singles that were released from the heartland on 45s. Midwest Funk -- Funk 45s From Tornado Alley can be found on CD at amazon.com and at various places online. I'll let the official album introductory notes do my work for me:

This time collector Malcolm Catto and I drove 1000s of miles across the endless cornfields of the American Midwest, a vast expanse of farm land that covers the region between the Rockies in the West and the Appalachians in the East. Summer is typically stifling hot and winter extremely harsh - Tornado Alley also runs through the entire region. We worked hard but were lucky too - not only did we avoid the tornadoes, but we also found some incredibly rare 45s and some amazing unreleased master tapes! And we've presented the best of them here in this CD/double LP.

It was great to be the first people to meet and hang out with the often-bootlegged Soul Toranodoes, guzzle whiskey in Henry Peters’ basement, and chill out in one of Jessie Wallace's vintage white Cadillacs. We chatted about their wild gigs and gruelling recording sessions in the ‘60s & ‘70s, they gave us amazing photos, told us fascinating stories and shared priceless anecdotes filled with their inspirations and their failures. Their life story in music was often captured on one solitary, but brilliant, 45, and that musical story is told here.

Midwest Funk - Various Artists

"Hank Williams: The Biography" by Colin Escott [book review]

The first music book I read in 2010 (back in early January) was the definitive Hank Williams biography by Colin Escott that first came out in 1994. I read the "updated" edition that was released in 2004. I cannot recommend this fine book enough if you are at all interested in early country music. Or, to be more accurate, interested in the time period in the late 40s to the early 50s when hillbilly music and western music were becoming the "Country & Western" genre.

You can't tell this story without placing Hank in the center of your tale. While he didn't make it to 30 years-old, his impact on country music, Nashville, the nature of songwriting, etc. cannot be overemphasized. Escott provides great detail on recording sessions, tours, the history of what would become the ‘Nashville Scene' (and other scenes like Shreveport and the 'Lousiana Hayride' show in particular), and the currents of country music that were flowing in the late 40s to the mid-50s. As well, there is some interesting “gossip” along the way: like tales from the house that Hank and Ray Price shared in Nashville, the parameters of the fallout from Hank stealing Faron Young’s girlfriend at the time, and the best existing account of what probably took place in Hank's final weeks and days.

I would suggest that you start reading the book with a copy of the 1998 10-CD box set The Complete Hank Williams at the ready, or at a minimum, a copy of his 40 Greatest Hits compilation. During the discussions of the Fred Rose-produced recording sessions, you will feel an overwhelming need to set down the book and listen to the relevant track(s).

Overall verdict: Highly (highly!) recommended.

Today was a Day for "What's Up Front that Counts" by The Counts (1971)

Wow. Another recent album find that brings the funk. What's Up Front That Counts by The Counts came out on the funk-famous, and Detroit-based, label Westbound Records (home in the early 1970s to Funkadelic and the Ohio Players) in September of 1971. Though The Counts would release two more average albums in the next few years, their first LP is one of the grooviest funk albums ever recorded.

The album is still in print on CD, and can be found many places online. And, if you are real lucky, maybe you will score this gem on vinyl when perusing your local record store. If you like Funkadelic, the Ohio Players, or the Bar-Kays, you need to hear The Counts. This Michigan-to-Atlanta band brought the thick-groove-funk in late '71, mofo.