sun records 50th!

flyin' saucers rock and roll

whoo hoo!
the north mississippi allstars show was a hoot!
we got to hang with luther d. before the show, (he was uber-friendly, angel is gonna go-so-green-eyed on me now), then we got drunk, danced, (well i moved a bit), and made a ton of new friends on the northshore. the allstars were all we hoped for and more, (altho i completely brain farted. i coulda snuck a bazooka into the show. i didn't bring my cam, my harmonica or my recorder. . . daggnnabbitt! so all we got was memories and a autograph on our ticket stubs, but that is cool).

you guys need to check 'em out, especially if they come to a silly bar near you!
luther tells the wrecks the new studio album will come out in august, so i am saving up for that. they have pared the band back to a three piece and did they ever rock the high sierras.
it all made us miss home a bit more and now i really can't wait to get our shit down south.

we are already planning our next trip to memphis as soon as we get to new orleans. we played old sun records all weekend whilst spring cleaning and getting 'casa de wrecks' ready for sale. we copped the 8-disc 'sun 50th anniversary' set, (which i can't find on the net for a link, cool!), on our last visit a year before and just never tire of it. the set really has a little of everything, rockabilly, blues, new orleans r & b, pop, rock . . . jeesh, just too much to mention here, but i'll give ya a taste. . . .

here be some great sun recordings:
billy riley and his little green men - flyin' saucers rock and roll
the jesters - caddilac man (with jim dickinson on pianny, luther and cody's dad)
little jr's blue flames - mystery train
doctor ross - boogie disease
(buy sun records great stuff!)

and a link to more north mississippi allstars songs
(buy the north mississippi allstars!)

north mississippi allstars

shake 'em on down

we are going to see the north mississippi allstars tomorrow in tahoe, (bringin' that 'manic cotton field psychedelia' to the high sierras!), and we can't wait. they are the best blues band in the world right now, rocking like no one else does anymore.
my sis in new orleans turned me onto the allstars, has seen these guys numerous times and always calls me from front of stage to show off. well, catch-back is a bitch. . .
i did a post on the allstars in april, so i'll just leave a few more dittys to give an idea of why we can't wait for this show . . .

mp3s:(via yousendit)
51 phantom
goin' down south
drinkin' muddy water

videos from an in-store show 11/11/04 (at twist and shout records denver co)
(buy the allstars!)

i'm in great shape

a teenage symphony to god

the brian wilson 'SMiLE' dvd comes out today, (s.a. is copping it after work, cool!).

it seems i cannot get enough of 'smile'. as far as i can tell, for me it really started in the 80's with a.g. giving me a tape of lost beach boys stuff. it was some of the tapes from the 'smile' sessions.

for those who haven't heard, brian wilson, the leader of the beach boys, was on a roll in 1966. after having scored high critical, (if not popular), acclaim for the 'pet sounds' lp and a world-wide hit with 'good vibrations, brian had a bit of clout. brian started recording in september for the tentively titled 'dumb angel'. he recorded in a cut and paste fashion, doing little sections and editing them together. as the band toured europe during the fall, brian continued to assemble and write. he asked van dyke parks, another critically loved composer, if he would write the lyrics to brian's songs. things were going smooth until the rest of the band returned from touring to be confronted sounds that were not very beach boy-like. brian found himself defending the project until he had a melt-down, locked himself in his room, and refused to work on 'smile' again. the deadline for the lp came and went and the project was scrapped, with some songs redone for 'smiley smile' and others trickling out on later lps. but the 'smile' session tapes were supposed to be burned by brian after a rash of fires plauged los angeles and he thought it was a bad omen, this turned out to be another strange tale in a long line of them.
i knew about this stuff, having been a beach boy fan since around 'sunflower', (up until then i thought the beach boys to be pretty inferior to the beatles, who were the measuring stick).
i had heard some of it, 'surf's up', 'cabin esscence', and had fell in love with butchering that was 'smiley smile'. but these rough snippets on the tape of unfinished songs were pure genius. like little teases of the great thing it could have been. it was then i started buying the older records i never had and discovered what a wonderful songwriter brian is.
then, upon getting online 10 yrs ago i found that there was a whole cult-like following for all things 'smile'. there were a slew of sites that posted their version of how the lp would be arranged, (as brian had just dropped the whole thing with out really knowing where it was all going). i had soon acquired as much of the missing lp as possible, hitting the mp3s, snagging the 'sea of tunes' 3 cd set of outtakes, and finding a lot of mixed cds on winmx. . . soon i had 3 or 4 versions of my own.

i don't think anyone that has been as obsessed like i am about 'smile' thought brian could ever have put together the one thing that tore him apart.
the story of 'smile' is like some epic journey. wallowing in limbo for 37 years, achieving legendary status as the greatest album never made. i had a sinking feeling before the first time i played the 2004 'smile'. would it be what i had envisioned? would brian make a fool of himself and just further fuel the myth of the whole 'smile' debacle . . .
i shouldn't have worried at all. the new 'smile' is one of the freshest sounding albums in quite awhile. even after immersing myself in the remnants of the beach boys version over and over, 'smile' is like cool dip in the pool on a very hot day.
it can be vast one minute then very intimate. silly, then heart-felt. it makes you think just a bit, but you can't help singing along.
i'll put it on and we all jump and dance to 'heroes and villians', trying to get the staccato cadence of van dykes lyrics, (i think i got it now!), from then on it is just what brian said it would be, a teenage symphony to god.
we're going to see brian do 'smile' in september and i really can't wait, 'til then i'll have the dvd and the new album to keep me company, if not all the wonderful fragments of the original.
here are some very good outtakes from the 'smile' sessions (sea of tunes 17) via yousendit,
the beach boys - wind chimes (take 5)
the beach boys - do you like worms? (pt2, 2nd voc o.d.)
the beach boys - wonderful (instrumental o.d.)

wonderful broadcast about 'smile' on npr (stream)
another npr broadcast, this one with van dyke parks (stream)
the smile shop
the zen of 'SMiLE'
brian wilson's site
recommended reading:
look! listen! vibrate! smile! - compiled by dominic priore
the nearest faraway place - timothy white

the leading horse is white

this number is . . .

Costas Ferris wrote a concept book for the "666" album: Saint John’s "Revelation" (The Apocalypse as they call it in Greek), and this subject had to be seen through the culture of the sixties.

A big circus Troupe, giving a big circus Show, based on the Apocalypse. Acrobats, dancers, tumbelines, elephants, tigers and horses. Of course, the reference to the "Beatles" "Sgt Peppers" is obvious.

While the show goes on, light and sound effects in all their glory, something is happening outside the circus tent. It is the real revelation disaster going on, staged by God himself.

The audience believes that what is happening outside, is part of the show. But the narrator, who understands that something strange is happening, gets hysterical.

At the end the big tent disappears. and the two "shows" unite, in a great battle between Good and Evil, between the real Revelation-End-of the-World, and the its staged representation.

and that is the explanation given for '666', the 1971 concept album by 'aphrodite's child'. actually the record is all that and more. it is a sprawling 2 disc set of mind-jarring songs that blends musical styles, myths, cultures and religion into a dizzying ride of apocalyptic proportions.
the music was written by vangelis papathanassiou. the same 'chariots of fire' vangelis. but this is nothing like the sappy music he would make on his own after this.
it is catchy, disturbing, mesmerizing, mystical, silly, and above all still very ahead of it's time.
from the opening chant of 'we got the system to fuck the system' to the sonic assault of 'the four horsmen', the hypnotic 'aegian sea', the party feel of 'hic and nunc', the outright bizarre 5 min orgasm of 'infinity' and the whimsical 'break'. . . the album is a thing of beauty.

i first heard this album when i was 16. we used to hang out in this little record store in metry. we'd skip out and hang around all day smoking up 'frog's' pot in the back store-room and grab whatever music we wanted and listen to it.
this lp got played in its entirety the day it arrived. we were all knocked out by the end of the 4th side. it was a teenage moment that you know you'll remember all your life. it was music i had never heard, sometimes like the beatles, then genesis, (the gabriel kind), then jazz, then hawkwind or van der graff generator, then some arab-sounding stuff. it really was too much to take in at one listen. many a night we would sit in the old wreckroom, light candles and incense, and sit in between the speakers and wallow in the vastness of this record.

i still have the copy i bought, (i am sure it is hard to find on vinyl now). it got played to death and now i still play the cd very often, which is the way it should be.
over the years this has gotten a little more deserved recognition, and the wonderful diversity of the album makes sure it will always be something to cherish in this time of sameness.
the indie kids should take note. . . .

choice cuts from aphrodite's child's '666' (thru yousendit):
'babylon'
'the four horsemen' (highly recommended)
'the beast'
'hic and nunc'
'break'
buy '666'!

and a another banned cartoon:
tex avery - red hot riding hood

powerhouse!

dinner music for a pack of hungry cannibals

there is a picture on the 'if charlie parker . . .' site of raymond scott, (he of the quirky music that was made famous by carl stallings in the looney tunes cartoons), and thought i'd toss out some of his tunes and stuff.

unless you have lived in a cave for the last 70 or so years you have no doubt heard his music, although never knew the man behind it. besides being the original composer of most of the memorable themes in the looney tunes, (and more recently used in 'ren and stimpy' and 'animaniacs'), he is thought to have been the inventor of 'electronica' music, he invented a number of electronic instruments and his influence on modern music is immeasurable.

and talking about cartoons, i have been trying to collect as many 'banned' cartoons as i can get, (just because they are banned). there are quite a lot of cartoons from the 30's and 40's that contain some reference to something that offended certain groups, like the blackface characters, the portrayal of the japanese during ww2, overt use of the swaztika and what not. i've gotten quite a few off of winmx, and i found a few dvds of some good ones too. but a.g. has one that is outrageous. i forget the name but i'll never forget the scene of all the frogs shooting up and gettin high, it is all very surreal and frightening. (i need to get him to send it to me).

here are some mp3s of inspired cartoon music:
powerhouse
dinner music for a pack of hungry cannibals
the toy trumpet
the penguin
buy raymond scott's music!
buy carl stalling's music!

and a few cartoons:
'jungle jitters' (banned) wmv file
'daffy the commando' (banned) wmv file
'falling hare' real stream.
buy looney tunes on dvd!

and a really big thanks to mrono's minute who did a podcast featuring the wrecks . . .
way cool, we got a fan!

gettin' my vinyl fix

no elvis, beatles or the rolling stones

the weather is finally warming up here . . . i have the all windows open and i'm just hanging around the house playing some 70s punk 45s real loud. the neighbors seem to like it, so i thought i'd throw some out for ya'll, warm and fresh from the turntable:

richard hell - blank generation
dead boys - sonic reducer
the boys - i don't care
the saints - i'm stranded
generation x - wild dub
buzzcocks - orgasm addict
the clash - remote control
and a bonus video:
the clash - 1977

the wailers (circa 73)

duppy conqueror

it's been 34 years today that robert nesta marley died in miami from the cancer that had plagued him since hurting his toe in a game of soccer. bob was only 36 but he had changed the face of world music like no other single artist. in the time since his death he has become an icon for third world struggles.
i remember buying 'catch a fire' at smith's records in the lakeside mall, (the 1st american wailers lp, the one that looked like a zippo lighter, very cool), and being absorbed by the smokey rhythms and haunting songs like 'concrete jungle' and 'stop that train'. they sounded like they were from another planet.
i couldn't get enough reggae from then on, going to see 'the harder they come' over and over at the old gentilly theatre, looking for singles and lps in the import bins around town, catching any band that blew thru town and having frequent rasta parties.
three albums of the best reggae ever are 'burnin' and lootin'', 'natty dread', and 'rastaman vibration'. they make up the story of the wailers as soul rebels to marley becoming more spiritual and worldly.
we went to catch the wailers at the warehouse on may 7, 1978 and it was such a great show. it was an opium den with all the smoke from the spliffs, and the band was like a traveling circus with kids, dogs and others littering the stage, and huge banners of haile selassie covering the walls. at one point i found myself between two rasta lookin' guys who had a spliff the size of my leg. i just took a deep breath, smiled and drifted off to my krewe boppin to 'rebel music'.
in the late 80's i was in the carribean and everywhere i went there was bob's face or music. i was amazed at how big he had gotten since he died. he really is like elvis to the rest of the world.
it seems to me now that reggae sorta died when bob did. it turned into dancehall later, which is more like rap than reggae. it stopped being important, it didn't matter anymore.
there are some good bands, even his children, ziggy marley and the melody makers, are very good. but the movement lost all the direction that bob had given it. reggae lost it's soul that day.

and this:
the wailers in rotterdam 1978 34 min (real stream)
short video on bob marley (from the bbc)

recommended reading: catch a fire (by timothy white)

the man with the jive

reefer madness

i found a site that hosts files for free, so i am testing it in here with a few hard to find gems from my lp collection. if it works this would be a great way to pass along some stuff that is only on vinyl, (which i have a ton of) . . .
let me know how good/bad it is to get these songs from rapidshare. i think you have to scroll down for the file and hit the free button . . . jeesh!
we'll see how this goes.

here should be some jumpin' jive tunes that continue with the whole getting stoned theme we got going on in here lately. . . from an old lp called 'reefer songs' on the stash lable, (no kidding).
harlen lattimore - the reefer man
harry 'the hipster' gibson - who put the benzedrine in mrs murphy's ovaltine
cab calloway - the man from harlem
stuff smith - here comes the man with the jive

and here is a site that has the movie 'reefer madness' for download in 8 parts,
or get it from the prelinger archives.

larson e. whipsnade

you can't cheat an honest man

this is for a.g., when he stumbles in here . . .
this is the rough vocal demo. i chopped up the harp and cleaned the guitar sound, and i'll prolly do another vocal and harp take just to see if i can make it tighter. anyways . . .

the metry wrecks - 'you can't cheat an honest man' (rough mix 2)

no guitars were harmed in the making . . .

the metry wrecks

ok, time for a little bit of shameless self-promotion.
the wreckroom was hoppin' today, no time for diggin' up the latest music for the mindless masses, we was makin' it.
another day, another one-day-wonder. . .
i started to write this tune on the dobro early this morn when the ladies left the house, (starting with a.g.'s wild lyrics based on w.c. fields insane ramblings). it kinda grew by itself, but it got too big for me to handle on me own.
so, as soon as the girls came home from shopping/nail duty i grabbed sadie mae sample, stuck her behind the drums, snagged miss krissinda le jones and planted a bass and smile on her, (she loves the end where it all disintegrates), and put them to work helpin' me bash out this ditty for a.g. called 'you can't cheat an honest man' . . .
of course, it ain't done, but for the last 14 hrs these kids rocked!
that's me on drunken harmonica, but i am too lazy and shy about singing, (unless i am drunker than this), so there ain't no vocals yet, . . . (now i got a job to do).
then i went and loaded the video for 'everybody's doin' it!' on to acid.com. it's a sorta grunge-like ode to the end of the world using old atom test films, or not. . . i dunno.
oh yeah, and since we're almost home . . . we changed the name of the band to the metry wrecks, somehow very appro po . . . all things taken for granted.

just a little twitchy and slightly out of key . . .
the metry wrecks - you can't cheat an honest man (mp3) (lo-fi)

a.g's hilarious lyrics that i ain't quite got down yet : you can't . . .

the metry wrecks - everybody's doin' it! (video stream on acid)

cream at royal albert hall

some of the refreshed cream show

here ya go boys and girls. . .
get this while it lasts, cream from last night. the quality is ok for an audience taping . . .
i don't think this will last long as it is posted on soundclick, and they frown about these kinda carrying ons. . .
so ya better get it while it's hot, (and it is hot!)

cream royal albert hall 5-5-05 (mp3)
i'm so glad
n.s.u.
politician
sleepy time time
outside woman blues
we're going wrong
crossroads
pressed rat and warthog
sunshine of your love

(once again, thanks to the rev. a.g. for the heads up!)

xtc, before the fall . . .

senses working overtime, indeed!

here is the last of the xtc for the week . . .

in march 1982 xtc had just begun their european tour to support the 'english settlement' lp. on the 18th they were to play at the le palais in paris. the sold out show was to be broadcast over t.v. and radio, and 30 seconds into the first song andy unplugged the guitar and ran off the stage. by the time the band found him backstage he was crumpled in a dark corner, holding his stomach and bawling his eyes out. andy flew home and they cancelled the rest of the tour. he saw doctors, underwent tests and hypnosis, but he was just plain fried.

trying to salvage the u.s. tour they packed up and flew to america on march 30.
xtc would play one more show on april 3 in san diego, (with andy on auto-pilot), then he called it quits for good. no more performing in concert, he had a full-blown case of stage fright. in it's most violent physical and emotional form.

ten days before the paris show xtc played the paradiso in amsterdam, and from the sound of it, you would never see the breakdown coming . . . .

the paradiso - amsterdam march 8, 1982 (mp3)
ball and chain
no thugs in our house
senses working overtime
all along the watchtower
no language in our lungs
towers of london
making plans for nigel
living through another cuba
generals and majors
real by reel
sgt rock (is going to help me)

and here are a few videos:
may 16, 1989 mtv studios - scarecrow people/blue beret/king for a day (wmv)

while here is a very strange history of xtc, (by xtc) . . . done with puppets(?):
the road to oranges and lemons (wmv)
(thanks to xtc4u.org)

recommended xtc reading:
chalkhills and children - chris twomey
xtc : song stories - xtc and neville farmer

'we're finally on our own . . .'

35 years ago today

'Ohio' . . .
Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?

1970 neil young
(by crosby, stills, nash and young)

--------------------------------------------------------------
4 Kent State Students Killed by Troops

8 Hurt as Shooting Follows Reported Sniping at Rally

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

the search for historical accuracy
actual new york times report for may 4, 1970
today's memorial

(m.a. thanks a.g. for this sobering reminder . . . )

ohio (buy it)

xtc (circa 1980)

in search of xtc

i guess this is gonna be xtc week here in the old room . . . (i'm kinda feelin' for the gang at last night an mp3 saved my wife) . . .
so, here is a show from the 1980 usa tour. i saw them later that spring at 'ol' man river's' in new orleans and that is when i fell head over for these guys. they were a gas live, always yakkin' up the crowd, bouncing around and playing that quirky, elecrocuted power pop.
this was the xtc before andy's crash and burn, with dave gregory and andy working syncopated guitar magic over terry's off beat cymbal smashings and colin's melodic bass running all over the place. this was the xtc before they all bought acoustic guitars and became the pastoral band they would evolve into during the mid-80's.
this is when the band was just very, very cool.

jan. 22, 1980 ann arbour michigan
wutf-fm detroit broadcast (mp3)
real by reel
when you're near me i have difficulty
life begins at the hop
the rhythm
meccanic dancing
roads girdle the globe
ten feet tall
helicopter
this is pop
battery brides (andy paints brian)
instant tunes
crowded room
complicated game
making plans for nigel
(break)
outside world
dance band
statue of liberty
(mystery announcer)

ahh, to be there last night

refreshed cream

hot off the presses . . .
>>--Cream played the first of four sold-out reunion shows Monday at London's Royal Albert Hall, on the same stage the trio held its farewell concerts in November 1968.
The supergroup performed 19 songs, including classics such as "White Room," "Crossroads" and "Sunshine of Your Love." Eric Clapton reportedly agreed to reunite with bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker because of his former bandmates' poor health.

A DVD documenting the historic gigs is due out in October. DVD and NEWLY UPDATED OFFICIAL WEBSITE: cream2005.com--<<

>>--from WHERE's ERIC:-->>

Setlist Cream - Monday May 2, 2005

I'm So Glad
Spoonful
Outside Woman Blues
Pressed Rat and Wart Hog
Sleepy Time, Time
NSU
Badge
Politician
Sweet Wine
Rollin' & Tumblin'
Stormy Monday
Deserted Cities of the Heart
Born Under a Bad Sign
We're Going Wrong
Crossroads
Sitting on Top of the World
White Room
Toad
Sunshine of Your Love (Encore)

(m.a. - and by all acounts, for $3700 it would be worth it to see them pull off that set list! if anyone hears about this on the web anywhere gimme a buzz! if it streams i can catch it. . .
ah to be there last night!)

has anyone seen these guys lately?

this is pop?

one of my biggest musical influences is a band called xtc, hailing from the sleepy little english town of swindon, consisitng of andy partridge, guitarist/songwriter, colin moulding, bass/songwriter, terry chambers on drums and barry andrews on keyboards.
they burst onto the music scene in early 1978 riding the new wave with the single 'this is pop', and released two lps of quirky jerky pop rock. after losing the keyboard player and finding local guitar wiz david gregory, they went to a standard rock band line-up and started a string of albums that would challenge rock music like no other band of the 80s. from 'drums and wires' to 'nonesuch', (i believe 'english settlement' to be the best of the lot), the music evovled not unlike their insiprational band the beatles. midway thru this, in 1985, chambers quit the band after andy had a breakdown before a show and refused to tour anymore.
and then there were three.
by 1992 they wanted to restructure their contract with virgin records, who had really did 'em wrong and with whom they had always recorded. virgin balked, xtc walked.
for the next 7 yrs they had no record company and waited out the term of the contract, sitting in andy's shed recording songs for eventual release, (by this time the internet had taken hold and many were leaked online, much to andy's amusement).
after losing virgin, they signed to tvt records in 1999 and released 'apple venus vol.1'.
by then gregory had left, and then there were two.
andy and colin released 'wasp star (apple venus vol 2)' in late spring 2000.
andy now has his own thing going producing others and releasing all his demos online as 'fuzzy warbles'.
there has been a very good box set of xtc demos, 'a coat of cupboards' and box of live shows 'transistor blast' and then. . . .
has anyone seen these two guys? i am beginning to worry. it is now 5 years with no sign of any new material, altho here is word of another box set 'apple box', but it only contains the apple venus demos.
anyways, this is a plea, (andy, if you find this), i am jonesin' and need an xtc fix . . .ya don't have to e-me, just put something out!
until then i guess i'll have to satiate my needs with some of this stuff:

making plans for nigel (mp3) (buy it)
king for a day (david letterman show 6-30-89 video)
and this gem,
xtc live on kroq radio 5-29-89 (mp3 from xtc4u.org)
01. opening dialogue
02. scarecrow people
03. dialogue 2
04. mayor of simpleton
05. dialogue 3
06. senses working overtime/grass/love on a farmboy's wages
07. dialogue 4
08. blue beret
09. dialogue 5
10. great fire/dear god/big day
11. dialogue 6
12. king for a day
13. dialogue 7
14. one of the millions/pink thing/garden of earthy delights
15. closing dialogue