A glimpse of....

...musical history...i doubt this needs an introduction. one of my favourite songs ever, with dancing.




happy weekend, don't slavegrind
richx

Seven Great Live Recordings(Some With Videos)

Lonnie Donegan - Gambling Man




Man, Lonnie rocks hard!  Forget "My Old Man's A Dustman" and all that variety crap.  The single version of this (recorded live by Joe Meek), is one of the most exciting live performances i've ever heard on record. 

 Leo Ferre - Thank You Satan



Ferre is little known outside France, where he was one a well known singer/poet in the chansonier tradition(along with Brassens, Brel, & Vian).  This song of his, recorded live at The Alhambra in 1960. really beautiful - and i really like the clarinet(?) solos

Cramps - The Way I Walk



In 1978 whilst on tour, The Cramps played a show at The Napa State Mental Hospital for the inmates.  This is taken from that show.  The show is worth seeing in it's entirety, as its pretty incredible.  I wish i looked like Lux Interior, he's the coolest man ever here.  I love the bit where he says "somebody said you were all crazy, but you seem alright to me".  The video above is their cover version of Jack Scott's 1959 hit. 


Elvis Presley - Lawdy Miss Clawdy



This is from the 1968 Comeback Special.  I spend half of my life arguing that the sit down show is one of the greatest musical performances EVER.  This, in my opinion, is Elvis at his very best - backed by Scott Moore & D J Fontana from his original band.  At this point in his career, he's got a bit of a point to prove, but he's determined to not let it get in the way of him having some fun.  There's a real disregard Elvis has here to It all that is quite alluring.  Nothing can stop him tonight.  Here he sings and stamps his heart out to Lloyd Price's classic fifties r n' b hit.  It is unbelievably raw, sexy and exciting.  What Rock n' roll should be. 
Otis Redding - Satisfaction



It is great to hear a black r&b artist slay a song written by a white rock band trying to sound like they are black.  And this is as good as you're gonna get.  You will be genuinely surprised that he doesn't combust by the end.

Odetta - Gallows Pole



I'm hoping this is the live version i've got - but i can't listen to it at work.  Odetta makes something totally new out of that traditional song ole' Leadbelly made famous.  It's like soul music.  Which it undeniably is. 

Muddy Waters - Got My Mojo Workin'



I saw this on Dylan's No Direction Home movie, which even if you don't give a toss about Bob, is interesting for the footage of other artists (John Jacob Niles, Odetta, Gene Vincent, Pete La Farge.  This is from 1960 and Muddy certainly sounds like his Mojo is perfectly in order.  The reprise is particularly ace.

Nina Simone - Four Women



Nina Simone was generally quite hit and miss in the Studio, but when she got it together live she was transcendant.  This song was written by Nina herself, and it destroys me every time i hear it. 

The Who - A Quick One (While He's Away)



Live from The Rolling Stone's Rock N' Roll Circus, 1968.  I'm not a huge Who fan, but it's hard to deny it doesn't get much better than this.  It is long rumoured that The Rolling Stones pulled the Rock N' Roll Circus show from the telly because they'd been upstaged.  Keith Moon and Pete Townsend totally astound me here. 

Peter Brotzmann Trio - Live In Cheltenham



And yes, i was at this!  Free-Jazz Colossus Peter Brotzman at The Cheltenham Jazz Festival in 2008.  That night was most surreal.  I'd seen Hans Bennink an amazing set earlier that evening(who famously played with Brotzmann - but they weren't playing together - strange) at Pittville campus and then toddled down to the Everyman to catch Brotzmann play a 15 minute set at about 12.40am!  I had to sit through some astonishingly appalling jazz for this - but this was headcleansing to say the least.  I came out astonished.  The bassist and drummer were almost metal, which is a guilty pleasure.  This is only an excerpt, but i hope it loves up to it. 

Enough for now. Enjoy x

Alex Chilton RIP

I cried a tear or two for when Alex Chilton died last week.  I think i may have been crying over the fact that I'd never be able to see the reconstituted Big Star live.  Chilton wasn't at all times a likeable fellow by most accounts, which fits well with his music - he was unpredictable, unapologetic and held little love for the music industry, his own records or his fans.  But incidentally, these are the things that make his late Big Star and early solo career so interesting.  If you don't already know about Big Star, you are missing a child.  Big Star lives up to that cliche "they could've been as big as the Beatles".   To learn more about Chilton's legacy, read this from the BBC.

Here's some highlights & personal faves from Chilton's Career. I'll keep it to twelve. 
DON'T WATCH THE VIDEOS. Ugh.
The Box Tops - The Letter



Although Big Star never met with fame and success, Chilton already had with Memphis blue-eyed soul group The Box Tops by the time he was sixteen.  Produced by Dan Penn at the famous American Sound Studios (also used by Elvis, Joe Tex, Dusty Springfield), it became an American chart topper in 1967.  I'm not a huge fan of this track, and it doesn't really sound much like Alex Chilton's later work, i thought i'd but this here for perspective.  I feel like a college lecturer, Jesus.

Big Star - Thirteen


I bet you've heard one somewhere - it's a bit like Big Star's "Yesterday".  Although this song is credited to Alex Chilton and Chris Bell on the release (the band was going for that Lennon/McCartney thing), it's Chilton's song.  Recorded at Memphis' Ardent Studios, this appeared on Big Star's Debut "No 1 Record", which never troubled the Charts.  Funny title, then.

Big Star - Ballad Of El Goodo


Another from "No 1 Record".  The vocal harmonies are beautiful. 

Big Star - O My Soul


The opener from the second Big Star record "Radio City"  A perfectly executed power-pop opera.  Chris Bell had left by this point, and went on to record the stupendous "I am The Cosmos" which i'll tackle some other day on the blog. 

Big Star - September Gurls



Also from Radio City - this is three minutes odd of classic pop that Teenage Fanclub wished they wrote (i gotta admit though, they got as good with Grand Prix - horrible cover art, mind).  I am without words.

Big Star - Third / Sisters Lovers

In 1974 - after the commercial failure of "Radio City", Big Star were slimmed down to a two piece(just Chilton and drummer Jody Stephens) and recorded the magnificent mess that is known as "Third / "Sister Lovers".  It wasn't released until 1978, and since then has been released with various different versions - as there was no name or tracklist ascribed to the project.  I've never been satisfied by any of these, but then again, it's like a puzzle, and perhaps it's best to work through a sequence for yourself - you get Velvet Underground covers, "Christian" Power-Pop, harrowing piano ballads, songs with baseballs as bass drums, and the odd ole' rocknroll standard to play with.  I could write (no, TRY to write) a book about this heartbreaking work of genius, but it would be a bore. You should just go and buy the thing now.   Here's four choice cuts(an almost impossible task on the best of days). 

Kanga Roo



Night Time



Take Care


Holocaust



SOLO CHILTON

Alex Chilton - Free Again



This is an old Chilton song that he recorded for first post-Big Star album, Bach's Bottom in 1975(unreleased until the 80s).  I love this song. But it is slightly unrepresentative of the album in the fact it is concise and coherent.  Songs start, fall apart and start up again.  The Big Star numbers (unreleased when this was recorded) are delivered without enthusiasm but their own kind of defiance.  At some point, Chilton decided he wasn't going to play anybody's game but his own -his gospel became that music was best caught when spectacularly raw, unrehearsed and on the verge of collapsing completely.  The fact that he was sick of the music industry and a little whacked out from substance abuse probably also played a part.  Here was a man was not content on being anybody's hero.  But doesn't that just make less people love you a bit more?

Alex Chilton - No More The Moon Shines On Lorena

(starts at 2.11 in the clip)


Chilton's new production ethic really "comes together" for his next album, Like Flies On Sherbert(1979).  You couldn't get more removed from the polished power-pop of the first two Big Star albums.  It is an epochal mess - the production is all over the place, instruments are sunk into the mix at random, Chilton sounds completely wasted and the band are a shambles.  It is also more than a little disturbing.  I love it.
"No More The Moon Shines On Lorena" is apparently a Carter Family number.  I bet A.P. would be spinning in his grave if he could hear this. 


Alex Chilton - No Sex



From The 1986 "No Sex" EP.  This sounds like Grease with AIDS.  Which i think was the idea.

As I look at this list, and I now ask myself, "Where is Bangkok? In The Street?". 

Rest in peace, Alex.
Rx

ROY HARPER - STORMCOCK

My blog was essentially set up to bring light to people i thought deserve more exposure.  Roy Harper fits the bill perfectly.  Everyone raves about the Nick Drake, Jon Martyn & Bert Jansch, but rarely about Roy.  Perhaps it's because he was too mercurial, spontaneous, or not always too pretty.  This album from 1971 however, is perfect, and i don't think anyone could sit through her without being emotionally reconstructed.  There's only four songs here, averaging at around 10 minutes each - and if you think that sounds like a Joanna Newsom record you'll wouldn't be surprised to know she is a big fan of this album.  Jimmy Page pops up on "The Same Old Rock" The orchestral arrangements on this album by David Bedford are some of my favourites ever, neither sentimentalising the music or overpowering it. 

The closing track, "Me And My Woman" can be listened to below, in two parts(it's over 13 minutes long). Masterpiece.







If you like this - buy the album from here.  If you'd like to hear more of Roy, his output is quite uneven, but i heartily recommend Valentine from 1974(some of which was written at the same time as "Stormcock" or the live album "Flashes From The Archives Of Oblivion.  Do not let the covers put you off.  There's also an 2 CD anthology that looks alright - covering most of Harper's career, and not editing the two numbers from Stormcock, thank God. 

Elia & His Zig Zag Flutes - Tom Hark

For Dancing.  Now.

Fats Domino - It Keeps Rainin' / Current Listening Habits

LISTEN HERE

I've been listening to a lot of Fats recently, and yesterday was his 82nd birthday! I've come to the conclusion he's not just a genius, but an underrated one.  Heard "By My Guest"?  The guy pretty much invented reggae.  This is my current fave from 1961(famous for a nineties reggae version by Bitty Mclean).  His version of "Four Winds Blow" was probably the first i heard - though that's bound to show up in the blog sometime later, as i've played that song to death live.  

Here's some footage of "Be My Guest" 

This book got me into Fats. It makes a pretty convincing case he was the daddy of Rock N' Roll and much more important to American Popular music that i had ever thought.

I now must go.  Happy weekends, people xx

COVER STORY #2 - DRY BONES & MOLES

BASCOM LAMAR LUNSFORD - DRY BONES



If you caught me playing recently on tour, i would've probably sang this old American traditional hymn.  I first heard this tune on Harry's Smith epochal compilation of Prewar 78s, "The Anthology Of American Folk Music".  This 78 was recorded in 1928 by Bascom Lamar Lunsford, a folk song collector from North Carolina.  Bascom is more famous for his incredible rendition of "I Wish I Was A Mole In The Ground", which is also featured on the Anthology (i've also played this once or twice in the past).  I've posted it below too because it is essential and damn rightly deserves a place on this blog.

BASCOM LAMAR LUNSFORD - I WISH I WAS A MOLE IN THE GROUND

How highly can i recommend this?  It's a total work of art.  A six-disc compilation of 78s recorded between 1927 and 1932.  It's variety is astonishing as it's execution - blues, gospel, old-time dance music, traditional English ballads, cajun music and more.  The effect this compilation has had on roots music thereafter, and the art of the compilation itself is immeasurable.   I could talk about it for days(Greil Marcus already has), but i'm going to resist the temptation to waffle and tell you to find out for yourself. 

The thing is pretty expensive to buy, best to look out for secondhand copies on Ebay or Amazon.

The sleeve notes are amazing - check them out here!

FOR MORE ON BASCOM:
see here for an essay & links
there is not much Bascom on CD - this compilation contains some of his twenties recordings and his later recordings for the Library Of Congress.  It is fantastic, and contains the amazing "in the shadows of the pines", one of my favourite songs ever.    There is a rumour that Locust Music are bring out a box set of further unreleased Library Of Congress recordings at some point. 

Four Hymns For Sunday

Well, kind of.  Just four religous and irreligous slabs of beauty.

THIRTEENTH FLOOR ELEVATORS - MAY BE THE CIRCLE REMAIN UNBROKEN


This song is from the Texan Psychedelicists' final album, Bull In The Woods. I'm not even sure if Roky Erickson sings this. The way the jewel falls together is sublime, it's in a world of its own.  I think it's dated so much better than a lot of sixties psychedelia, so intoxicated in its own sound it doesn't want to do anything, and here that works.  Millions of bands now living would die to sound like this.  Me included.


SPACEMEN 3 - LORD, CAN YOU HEAR ME?



I've never really been a fan of Spiritualised, and this song you might've initially heard by them. This was the original from Jason Pierce's previous band, and i think it works better.  Low made me tearful when they covered this song live.

LINK WRAY - LA DE DA



Link Wray made a beautiful self-titled roots rock album in 1971.  This is the opening track.  If you've only ever heard Rumble, you'll be in for a shock.  I guess this was the sort of thing the Stones had aimed for with Beggar's Banquet, and fair play to them, came pretty close.  But Link here is totally sincere and i get carried away with the sentiment every time.  Pretty amazing vocal performance from a a man with one lung. 


SUICIDE - DREAM BABY DREAM



One of my favourite songs ever, from their second self titled album.  It's an anthem.  Suicide are a wonderful mix of the harrowing, uneasy and uplifiting.  This mainly falls in the latter category.  And like The Elevator's track - their music(BUY THE FIRST ALBUM IF YOU HAVEN'T GOT IT!) creates an entire world of its own.  I would like to live there, but i'd be a bit on edge.  Again, it's a sound that's much imitated.  This song kills me - I watched the video for three seconds to see if it worked and a tear fell out just like that.  If you've never seen Suicide, go to see them.  It might sound more 80s eurotrash than 70s NYC but Alan Vega is still one of the most compelling performers i've ever seen.  He hobbles around now as he's had trouble with his hip, which is another reason to go pay see them as there's no NHS in America, remember.  Bruce Springsteen's live version of "Dream Baby Dream" is also worth checking out and at odds with the bombast that he's mainly known for. 

BUNKER HILL

I'm really fascinated by the secularisation of Black American gospel music in the 1950s and 60s, which was instrumental in creating what we now call "Soul Music".  If you've ever listened to any black 1950s gospel recordings, you'll be surprised how raw, wild and utterly beautiful it can be.  It was only a matter of time before some clever-dick thought let's take the feeling, the beat and the tunes but sing about "boys and girls" instead.  Ray Charles perhaps was one of the first with "I Got A Woman" in 1954(which was based on a gospel hymn), and Sam Cooke, Solomon Burke and Little Richard(all from Gospel backgrounds) followed, amongst many others.

The fella I bring to your attention today was a gospel singer.  Dave Walker, A.K.A. "Bunker Hill", sang in popular 1960s gospel group The Mighty Clouds Of Joy.  On his nights off from singing to God, he got together with Guitar God Link Wray and recorded three of the wildest singles that Rock n' Roll has ever birthed:  Hide & Go Seek", "Red Riding Hood & The Wolf" and "The Girl Can't Dance"

BUNKER HILL - HIDE AND GO SEEK PARTS 1 & 2 (1962)



BUNKER HILL - RED RIDING HOOD & THE WOLF (1963)


BUNKER HILL - THE GIRL CAN'T DANCE (1963)





Considering that Link Wray was involved, it's strange that the guitar isn't prominent on these records. It's just drums, bass and backing vocals hitting insistent almost trance like rhythms as Bunker screams over the top.    And what a voice Bunker had, he sounds indestructable - as if Wilson Pickett had accidentally knocked back a bottle of sulphuric acid and decided to go on with the show.  A perfect gospel voice, developed over years of training, designed to carry in big churches and to drive the congregations wild, but here, rather than praising god, he's now singing himself stupid over children's games and chasing virgins.   I stop here.

r x

for more info on Bunker Hill, of which there isn't much it seems - check out this ace site.

A WHOLE LOT OF SHAKING...

Now feast your eyes on this television clippy.  It's over 52 years old.  And it is still more exciting, more dangerous, more dirty, than anything you'll find on ITV or Channel Four today.  The breakdown is exceptionally classic.  If i'd been a parent in 1957 i might've thought twice about letting my child see this bit of thinly veiled sex education.  I can't believe "The Killer" is still playing live.  But if you can do this a ten thousand times in your life and not keel over and die, there's hope that i might reach 60.

r xx