Fun with Records…….

  

    This month I’m breaking from critiquing music for a minute to pass along some interesting junk you can do with records. No, I’m not going to give instructions on how to turn those Perry Como LPs into soup bowls. I did manage to stumble upon some neat-o stuff that has the potential to entertain and / or improve a person’s enjoyment from messing around with those glorious plastic waffles.


     Long before digital music revolutionized how people access music, vinyl records were the most popular format for music lovers to have their favorite music at their personal disposal. No matter what kind of equipment you had the software was the same. Or was it? United States residents who found domestically produced records lacking in quality (especially in the late 60s to the late 70s) would go out of their way to track down imported copies of albums – from the UK, Germany, Japan and other countries. The number one reason had to do with higher quality pressings from these countries. By the late 60s, American companies started cost-cutting measures at the pressing plants rendering some pretty noisy vinyl albums. Some practices involved recycling vinyl – you’d think it was a good idea, but not with the old paper labels thrown into the same mixture. This was known as the “Capitol re-grind” and resulted in records with extra surface noise. I’ve even found large paper chunks floating in records – take a look at this :

See what looks like a piece of fuzz on top of the record? Sorry - that's a piece of paper embedded into the grooves. No, it doesn't sound good at all. How'd I miss this? I even bought this record used. Need to be more careful in the future.........

     RCA, on the other hand, invented Dyna-Flex. Some of these records were so thin and wobbly you’d be afraid that looking at them the wrong way would damage ‘em. See what I mean?

     Actually, these records can withstand this kind of abuse because they are so thin. It popped right back into shape. Some Dyna-Flex pressings don't sound bad, really. It's a hit or miss thing. This Elvis album is the thinnest I've seen. Why did companies start doing this? To save money. Vinyl is a byproduct of petroleum. And we all know what OPEC started in the 1970s. Bingo!

     By the late 70s, word had gotten around that some overseas companies were using superior vinyl pressing practices than the US-based companies were using. In West Germany, the Telefunken-Decca label was known for using a higher percentage of “virgin vinyl” in their pressings. One way to literally see the difference was to hold one of these up to a bright light. What the eye would behold under normal light as a black disc became translucent – of varying colors and intensities – when held to a bright light source. Theoretically, this would show the degree of virgin vinyl used in the process and reveal the reason why those records had a much lower surface noise than domestically produced albums. I have a few of these Tel-Dec records. Here’s a reissue of early Genesis from this company:

     Domestically-produced vinyl albums had come under enough criticism that boutique labels started to emerge claiming to produce better pressings. Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs was one of the earliest examples. Their LPs were manufactured in Japan and featured translucent pressings. Here’s Steely Dan’s “Aja”:

The MFSL records were pricy, yet big enough sellers to attract the attention of the major companies. As the 70s turned to the 80s, record companies decided to compete with the smaller, specialty labels and made their own versions of super-vinyl. Here are a few examples.........

A&M were one of the more enthusiastic companies. Here is a reissue of the first Police album "Outlandos D'Amour". This, along with all the other records shown here (and many not shown), were believed by me to be regular, black vinyl up until about a month ago. I bought this when I was in junior high school......D'OH! Most A&M vinyl from the 80s was translucent. Now you know.

 

     This Arista LP is almost clear above a bright light. This is one LP from the Grateful Dead's "Dead Set" double live album. I think I bought this in 1986 from Crazy Eddie's. Remember that guy? Heh heh. I'll resist the urge to post a video of a Crazy Eddie commercial here. You can dig them up on u-toob for yourself.

You say you're a Beatles fan? Well, Capitol Records got on board with translucent vinyl in the 80s too. You'll have to look for Beatles LPs on the 80s colorband label if you want translucent pressings. And not all of those records with the colorband label were pressed with this stuff, but quite a few were. Keep your eyes peeled...............

Many smaller labels from the 80s used translucent vinyl for their LPs. From the top, Husker Du on SST; The Dead Milkmen on Enigma and They Might Be Giants on Bar None Records.

Here's a cloudy/clear copy of Phil Spector's Christmas Album from the 80s. The Rolling Stones early albums from parent company ABCKO were also pressed on translucent vinyl.

     Here's the same LP from a few different angles. Another Christmas LP from RCA. The pictures don't really show just how near-transparent this record really is above a bright light. RCA used translucent vinyl in this era too. There really weren't many major labels that used this stuff. I only found one Warner Brothers LP in my collection (though it was barely noticeable - not too translucent) and one Reprise LP (same deal). So far absolutely no Atlantic, Elektra, Asylum, Columbia, Epic records have this type of vinyl - at least none in my collection!

     All of this might not seem too amazing for younger collectors who are currently besieged with LPs made from every color combination imaginable nowadays. Just remember - even though I'm a longtime collector - I never suspected these records to be anything more than regular black vinyl for all these years. Imagine my surprise!

    Here's some more "Fun for Fools"..................

I'd been reading about advanced record cleaning methods for awhile now. I always used the good-old dry-brush for pre-spin cleaning to remove basic dust. For extreme cases, lukewarm water and soap in the kitchen sink was always the next step to revive mistreated records. Then I heard about.............GLUE. That's right! More specifically - WOOD GLUE. I had read that spreading glue like Titebond II onto the record surface and letting it dry THEN peeling the glue off the record can dramatically reduce bad surface noise problems and even reduce the effects of scratches.

So, I took the plunge...................using some Gorilla Wood Glue I used my old Henry Cow LP for the test.

 I bought this album years ago and could never listen to side one due to really distracting noise that never was diminished no matter how many baths I gave it. Whatever got onto the record was stuck in the grooves for good, or so I thought.

Using a liberal amount of glue, I spread it over the surface of the LP and left it to dry for about 24 hours. Then I slowly started to peel the glue away from the surface and eventually got this:

I also finally got to hear the music for the first time! Success! Now I have a bunch more LPs lined up ready for the same treatment. Yes, this hobby can be an adventure indeed.

Things are going to get a bit more interesting in the next segment with new advances on the horizon relating to my obsession with QUADRAPHONIC vinyl LPs. So stay tuned.........until next time! Happy gluing!

In search of the new, new wave.......

John Cale – Paris 1919

        I’ve been meaning to pick up the speed a bit on my quest to get everything John Cale ever released (which is a pretty sizeable catalog at this point). Letsee……I got his first album – Vintage Violence – when I was just getting out of high school.

About 25 years later I bought my second John Cale album – the second release of his – the duet with Terry Reily – The Church of Anthrax.

Whoah! I liked that a lot better than the first one. Then I saw this clip of John Cale live:

Well, that threw me for a loop and a half! I never saw any other footage of a John Cale performance ever in my life. Apparently this song / performance art piece was a steady feature of his live shows of the era (and not just a one-off spasm). Still, pretty shocking stuff! I ended up with my third John Cale album this weekend when I bought a reissue of his well-regarded classic “Paris 1919”. I’d had World War I on my mind lately, so it was a combination of influences for me – picking up the pace on John Cale and a bunch of WWI thoughts in my noggin.

I played this record for the second time tonight. I really like the music - beautifully orchestrated. The tracks that feature the orchestra (The UCLA Symphony Orchestra to be exact) were organized by a guy with a familiar name to me: Joel Druckman! Mr. Druckman has the unlikely distinction of having played bass for The Bonzo Dog Band during the period of time when they recorded their seminal LP “The Doughnut in Granny’s Greenhouse”. He was the “American Bonzo”. Then he apparently became involved with orchestral music in LA where he still lives (I think?). He is credited on the back cover of the Cale LP. Aside from the orchestra, the main backing (rock) band on the disc is none other than – Little Feat! Quite an unlikely assemblage of characters! So the music is top notch.

Ah, but the words. This is another lyrically inscrutable piece of work. John Cale is really a brilliant talent. Yet, when I read along with the lyric sheet, I’m left to wonder who he’s singing to because I can’t make much sense from his references. There’s a vague thread relating to Post-WWI Europe. Yet it’s mixed in with all sorts of other obscure stuff – I just haven’t got much of a clue. So, my critical mind is thwarted and my intuitive mind has to take over. Intuitively, there feels like a sense of uneasy resignation in this music. The words, however obscure, are replete with strangely beautiful imagery. On the title track he refers to a coffin as an “iron drum”. At least that’s what I think he’s getting at. An odd mix of the cheerful and the morose.

Listening to “Paris 1919” again tonight, the record ended and left me with a loss over what to listen to next. I was left feeling so disconnected and drained there was only one record that made sense:

Sun Ra and His Arkestra – Bad & Beautiful

The copy I have of this record is the early 70s ABC / Impulse reissue that supposedly Sun Ra himself eventually disowned (along with the rest of the reissues that came out on Impulse! of his earlier recordings). I don’t know – somehow the “fake stereo” isn’t as offensive to me here. Well, considering how funky the original recording is anyway – it’s not that big of a deal! Yet, it is precisely the sound of the record that pulls me in. There is some great jazz playing here, but the entire album sounds like you are listening to a band playing in a big empty room, but from down the hall and out of sight. It’s an eerie sound. And the music has a ramshackle groove adding to the general sense of alienation going on. Yet! There is at least one totally beautiful blues here – Search Light Blues. I think the soloist is tenor man John Gilmore (one of the least heralded giants of the instrument) – his solo here is especially inspired and memorable. So, while the sound may be BAD, the music is BEAUTIFUL. Heh!

So anyway I’ve also been looking for the new, new wave………

This whole notion of profiling some new music releases is a lot more complicated than I’d bargained for. Sure, I can download anything easily enough. The real question is – what? I know I recently spent some time listening to The Black Keys on spotify. I thought the music was pretty good, but I had no desire to purchase the album since the stream sounded good enough for me (surprise!). If I wanted to hear it again I’d just as soon stream it from spotify again. This must be why a growing number of artists are starting to question the whole free streaming music server thing. Yet, for me there is another angle – so much modern music is readily available for free in other places like supermarkets, stores and the good old radio. Not that I’m a big radio listener, but I feel like I hear plenty. (Why would I want to own a Ke$ha CD or download? I hear enough of that already.)

What I’m interested in are artists who are out there doing something great that should be more popular or at least connected to a larger audience. That’s the kind of thing that fascinates me more than the usual stuff on popular radio. Unfortunately, I’m no John Peel. He was known for listening to stacks of cassettes sent in to his radio program – literally sifting through the proverbial haystacks for the golden needles. And he did find them, but that’s a lot of listening time spent getting the good stuff sorted out from the dreck.

The best new music exposure-filter for me has been the “word-of-mouth” filter. There was a time I listened to radio. There was a time I had a subscription to a very hip and vibration-diverse magazine. Well, the rag done quit and radio ain’t the same no more. Even the local college radio station has turned into the Fake Reggae station. Puke-tastic! I get the best tips from friends – both from the “meat zone” and the “inter-zone”. So what I’m gonna do is this:  THE BATTLE between the new sounds. One contestant from the mainstream – purportedly the BEST the mainstream has to offer. Then, the challenger from the OBSCURE, UNDERGROUND, MARGINALIZED and (egads!) LOCAL zone.  The two bands / artists / yodellers are gonna duke it out right here and I get to be the ref. Got that? Good, lets go………

First up :

Young the Giant – s/t  - 2010

This is their first album (do albums really matter to “new” artists anymore – that’s a whole other discussion….). I would have played their new release – listed at the #2 spot on amazon's mp3 chart – but it isn’t on spotify yet. The first one is, though. According to wiki, the debut got lots of stars – 5 stars, 10 stars…whatever. People liked this. Know what? I like this too. Hard not to like finely crafted, sonically pleasing rock/pop. Even the vocals are non-annoying. Slightly quirky even. Yet, not at all offensive. That is both the strength and the weakness of this album. The music sounds like a band – a modern band. I really hope what I’m hearing are actual instruments. Hard to tell since the production has that sonic “airbrushed” stamp to it. I do like rough edges. Mistakes. It could be an illusion though. Maybe a little more chance-taking would spiffy this up. This record sounds good, but maybe too good. I’m not reaching to turn it off. But I’m not reaching to turn it up either. I am not offended. I have no idea about the group’s image – they could be dressed up in alligator costumes for all I know. Yet, how new is this album really? I’m actually interested in the new one now. Is it better? Worse? More memorable (beyond being non-offensive)? Is this music for aging hipsters? I need to hear something more obnoxious next time – this is too damned friendly! I refuse to quote lyrics. I’m not a lyric guy anyway. This album was designed to be commercial.


The Challenger:

TriBeCaStan – New Songs from the Old Country  - 2013

   If there is any doubt about the authenticity of the human element in a new music release, this new album from TriBeCaStan lays those fears to rest post haste, squire. This is one heck of a motley assortment of whistle-blowers, clay pot-bangers, zither strummers, pied pipers and wobble-board wobblers the likes of which th’world hath not visaged befor’n. Yea, this is no mere Scottish klezmer polka improv and Chinese opera ensemble for the helluvit. There’s magnificent melodies and Siamese-cat-like interplay between and betwixt aforementioned talented musicians abounding. The overall aesthetic is easily summed up by a provocatively titled track – the fifth down from the top – “Corned Beef and Sake”. Indeed the Celtic and the Japanese doth compliment each other quite well. In the hands of lesser artists, all of this Persian-ocarina and sitar-funk banjolele bashing might sound forced or trite (or simply flat-out bonkers). Worse still, it could resemble an awkward and cold cocktail party full of total strangers from different nations all standing around avoiding each other awash in alienation and suspicion, sheepishly peering over their exotic beverages and wishing they were somewhere else. But, no! Lo! This is the multicultural party album of the year! The music is the star of the show with the textures of the instruments carefully blended as a master chef knows how to bring out the most delicious flavors from just the right blend of spices and juices. I can only imagine how the music must come to life in a personal appearance – a pleasure I look forward to in the hopefully-not-so-distant future. Is this music “commercial”? Perhaps for real human beings – organically connected to the earth and stars. All earthly and interplanetary beings can groove on these vibrations – just sign up for TriBeCaStan-ways incorporated, corporeal, cornucopia and calliope-bound!

The Verdict?    TriBeCaStan wins by a wide margin of creativity, humanity and mad-crazy flava!

Keep seeking and grooving!

New Year’s Resolution – Part One: A little more NEW with the Old

  

     I have been having way more fun keeping up with my two music blogs than I had originally thought I would when I started them a few years ago. I’ve received some awfully nice compliments from folks who have stopped by and shared encouraging words about my writing. Really, this is just a side hobby for me. I like to write, but this is strictly amateur hour here. Lester Bangs was familiar with more literature at 20 than I’ll probably ever be (and I passed 20 a long time ago). Passion is passion, though, so I’ll continue to keep having fun.

    As the entries have been rolling by I have noticed patterns in my listening and writing behaviors. One of the patterns has caused me some slight unease. I don’t really seek out “new” music – or if I do, it is very rare and I certainly don’t spotlight anything “new” here. As it happens I did purchase a few new releases, albiet by older artists. It’s still a step in the right direction. Truth be told, I’d have a hard time evaluating totally “new” artists. Music has taken some strange directions over the past ten years at least. Yet I am hopeful that maybe some really new sounds might emerge in the next few years since we are poised to leave the last “cultural decade” behind. (Cultural decades usually start to shift approximately three years into a new chronological decade and run over a few years into the next. For example, the 1960s as we define them culturally didn’t really kick in until about 1964 or so – or so they say……heh heh!)

    So, I’ve decided that I must feature some kind of “new” music more frequently in my posts here. This is indeed a challenge since, to put it bluntly, I like OLD SHIT. I mean really old shit too. Like Greogian Chants are totally fair game to me. Medieval music? Hell yeah! Well, at least on this blog I rein it in a bit. For the really arcane junk please refer to my other blog:     http://hyperprism-sounds.blogspot.com/

    Anyway, as suspicious as I am about “new” music I think it’s time to give the living and working musicians some attention. In addition to checking out new music I’m also going to give downloading (legally) another few shots (at least). I’ve actually managed to download some great music over the last few years. The trouble is remembering to access those downloads more frequently – I can’t help it – physical media is just MORE FUN for me. If there was a way to make accessing digital files on a computer somehow fun I’d do that more often. I’m convinced that is the big hurdle for the analog-inclined. Sure, it’s convenient. Is it FUN? Not yet, I’m afraid.

    Aside from convenience, downloading can also be cost-effective. Especially during the winter when available funds tend to go towards keeping the heat on, those expensive purchases usually take a back seat. There’s also the matter of instant gratification. Yesterday I read a great article on Guy Clark which I can heartily recommend here:   http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/the-life-of-guy-clark-one-of-nashville-s-greatest-songwriters

I’d actually known about Guy Clark for awhile now – since I saw the documentary on Townes Van Zandt “Be Here to Love Me” in 2006. I’ll get to that story in a minute. I’d actually heard a Guy Clark song way before that when I bought a CD of Mallard – Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band without the Captain (they defected en masse in 1975). Taking the lead vocal slot in Mallard was a guy named Sam Galpin. He had a gruff voice, but otherwise didn’t seem to sound very comfortable with the material in general with one exception – a Guy Clark song called “Desperados Waiting for a Train”. On its own – it’s a great song. On the Mallard album, while it is one of Galpin’s more successful vocals, it doesn’t exactly fit with the rest of the music on the record. Although this is one of Guy Clark’s signature tunes I have yet to hear his version (or anyone else’s).

    In fact, until last night I’d never picked up any of Guy Clark’s albums. Courtesy of the article I linked above, I was compelled to download his new album “My Favorite Picture of You”. I had actually seen a picture of the front cover before I read the article which already piqued my interest a few weeks ago. The title song refers to an old polaroid shot Clark is seen holding in front of the camera of his wife Susanna, who was a songwriter herself as well as his muse until her passing last year.


If you’ve read the article I linked you’d already know that and a lot more. Clark has suffered from some pretty serious health issues since the early 2000’s and the voice on the new album is the voice of a survivor. Yet, there are great stories, ideas, insights in every song. With so many people who might pick up a guitar and start writing some words, composing a song, what we listeners look for is a new way to see things – maybe common things that we deal with every day – from a new perspective. With the great catalog of recorded music now stretching back in time over one hundred years, this is no easy feat. One could easily dismiss the new in favor of the concept that “all the great songs have already been written”. Well, Guy Clark’s new album proves that theory to be flat-out wrong.

    The album opens with a laid-back country waltz that’s essentially an ode to country waltzes and the down home pleasures to be experienced at the local hoe-down on Saturday night. The melody sounds like it belongs to a classic song from the days of yore. I love this kind of song! There’s another waltz down the lineup, though it’s a somewhat lonelier story – waltzes have that aura about them. The rest of the program runs the gamut from songs about the inhumanities and indignities suffered by illegal immigrants risking everything to cross the border from Mexico to the US (El Coyote), a song about soldiers coming home from war (Heroes) and the downside of having a good time all the time (The High Price of Inspiration). In each song, there’s a new twist to each of these classic themes. If I were a really astute reviewer I’d be singling out couplets of lyrics to illustrate Guy Clark’s brilliance. But you don’t need me to do that – you’ll notice those beautiful lines all on your own. Just take my word – download this great album. You’ll return to it frequently. Put it on repeat on the ipod. Let it soak in.

       Once you’ve got the new Guy Clark album downloaded, take a few hours out of your time to watch the Townes Van Zandt documentary. This is where I first encountered Guy and Susanna Clark. I saw the trailer for the film online (thanks to the old Bedazzled website). I was so impressed with that trailer I went out of my way to find the documentary. I was so impressed with the documentary it ended up being one of those rare films that I watched over and over and over all throughout a winter of discontent in my life. In fact, I’ve been hesitant to recommend this film to friends because I thought it might say more about me than I’d care to let on – Townes Van Zandt was a brilliant artist, but ultimately a highly self-destructive character the likes of which I don’t have much patience for in my real life, truth be told. Townes wrote great songs, but he was one severely irresponsible guy who ended up hurting a lot of people close to him because of his reckless life.

    But I’m not here to trash Townes Van Zandt the person because I think even he would agree that would be too easy to do. The film goes a long way to trace how folks like Townes develop. He was a romantic figure and the film makes one thing clear – his love of music held the number one place in his heart pretty much above everything else. That’s a very romantic sentiment, but as his son JT says in the film – there’s more to life than just writing songs. Unfortunately, it could be argued that the number two slot in Townes’ life was held by getting high and that’s what ends the film and ends his life. It’s hard to celebrate a man’s life who consistently made such poor choices, even if it was in the name of furthering his art. I sure like Townes’ music, but I’m not a fan of him as a person. I guess this is the conundrum that kept me watching that film over and over for months on end while I was going through a fairly painful time in my own life. And maybe that’s where Townes’ music retains its value. Somehow he managed to write songs that gave the most destitute characters one could imagine a legitimate and literate voice. What’s more disturbing is how, in his better performances, he seemed to BECOME those characters adding to the drama of the performance. Here’s my favorite example – one of the most gut-churning, utterly hopeless songs I’ve ever heard in my life – “Marie”:

That performance gives me chills.

    Back to Guy and Susanna……..they both featured prominently in the Townes documentary since they both featured prominently in his actual life. Some of my favorite moments in that film are of Guy and Susanna playing off each other talking about Townes. They just seemed like the kind of people you’d want to spend lots of time around just because they were so cool. And apparently lots of folks felt the same way over the years since they were known to host the best get-togethers for budding songwriters in the Nashville area.

    So I’d kept Guy Clark in the back of my mind. When I saw the new album cover and read the story – I hadn’t known about Susanna’s passing – well, for FIVE DOLLARS I’m downloading that album. And I’m going to suggest you do the same. Now, if I can only figure out how to make playing music off my computer more fun………..

(For what it’s worth – Townes Van Zandt passed away New Years Day in 1997. Guy Clark is workin’ hard to be ready for some shows in the spring of 2014 – if he’s anywhere near me I’m going to see him! Keep a light in the window……)

The Great Holiday Record Swap Tradition Revisited

I’m originally from New York City – Queens, more specifically. In the late 70s, my family packed up and moved to the outskirts. It was an adjustment for me since I loved being a city kid. For years I had plans to move back. As an adult I came to realize that was not a practical option (for several reasons). Now it’s more fun to visit once in awhile. As a kid I had plenty of opportunities to see family down there over the years. The periodic trips back to the city helped to feed an idealized perspective of city life that, to a degree, still persists for me. Most of those visits were to see my Aunt, Uncle, Grandmother and cousins – all of whom I was close to growing up. I don’t have any siblings, so my cousins were the closest thing I had to brothers and sisters. I was the “baby” of that bunch.

I looked up to my cousins. Especially the two oldest – brothers Jimmy and Steve. I was closer to my cousin Steve, he being the younger of the two. We shared an uncanny interest in music and records, along with an extremely trusting bond.  Over the years the holidays became opportunities to have extensive listening sessions (all the cousins got into that) and to exchange albums, books and tapes on loan until the next holiday get together. There are only a few select people I have ever had that kind of trust with. As a general rule, record freaks don’t normally loan out important parts of their collections. Steve and I knew that taking care of the records was a sacred duty to each other. Plus, it made for fun in between holidays to see what kinds of interesting finds we could dig up to pass along at the next meeting. We really had a bizarre sixth sense between us. Exchanging gifts one Christmas it was humorous to discover we bought each other the same album – The Jerry Garcia Band Live at Keystone Volume 2. Family members just shook their heads. Funny!

As we grew into adults, holiday meetings were sometimes augmented with going to see concerts together or doing some record hunting when our schedules allowed. My cousin had some challenges of the unseen variety, which derailed his chosen profession and unfortunately never improved. His illness got the better of him about seven years ago and he died unexpectedly. My cousin never married or had kids. He maintained few friendships. Although he was a kind of a hermit in his last years, he remained an important person in my life. I think about him often, especially in the context of our once shared music obsession. It took me a long time to even deal with the fact that he’d died. Folks with clinical depression are seriously fragile beings. His unexpected death was not an inevitability, but can be a very real possibility under similar circumstances. So, the loss for me was compounded. Not only do I miss my cousin, but I feel badly about all the exciting music he never got to appreciate. At the time of his death, among the more serious and appropriate thoughts, I couldn’t help thinking, “I can’t believe he missed out on the Moby Grape reissues!” This might sound crass, but in the context of what he liked – and how we related to each other – it made perfect sense.

So, as can be the case for those who are left behind, holidays can be challenging. And especially when holidays were such fun times for us. In some ways, this blog is an outlet for me – a way to cope with my grief. But it is also a way to continue the good vibrations that always happened when two music and record freaks met for a big pow-wow. So in the spirit of that friendship, here is a list of albums I would have loaned to my cousin had we met this Thanksgiving of 2013:

Donovan – Wear Your Love Like Heaven & Hurdy Gurdy Man – Sundazed mono reissues

These albums were released this year by Sundazed and are just beautiful pressings of great material in ultra-rare mono. The differences to the mono mixes are subtle though still engaging – perfect for close listening. Sundazed has always been a great reissue label, but they’ve really stepped up their game in recent years especially re-releasing rare mono LPs. Not to mention improved mastering and pressing quality for their vinyl. Music lovers have never it had it so good with this company!                        

Here's a direct link to the Sundazed site:

http://www.sundazed.com








John Martyn - Solid Air

            I “discovered” John Martyn this year. This album is a known classic for good reasons. Creative, exciting – falling somewhere between acoustic folk, rock and jazz. Of course, Martyn himself was a scoundrel of a person. There are some whose antics drive me away from the art. Although his conduct was truly foul, the music is fascinating and compelling. A classic case study of “How can people like THAT make music like THIS?”


Bunky and Jake – s/t

         I got hipped to Bunky and Jake this year as well. An internet friend sent me a copy of their second album. I recently found this, their first LP, at the WFMU Record Fair. One online review claimed the string section accompaniment on some tracks to be in questionable taste. Bull! It’s a beautiful record from start to finish. Period. A lost folk-rock classic. Should have been a hit! Jake Jacobs is still rockin’ and I seriously need to get a copy of his new album which you can also find here:
http://jakeandthefamilyjewels.com/


Kathi McDonald – Insane Asylum

    This was another WFMU score. Kathi McDonald was Janis Joplin’s replacement (one of the better ones) in Big Brother and the Holding Company. In some ways, I like Kathi’s voice better! This was her only solo album from those days (in this case 1974). Lots of great guest musicians. Interesting arrangements too. I think she’d put out some newer CDs in recent years, but for the longest time this album was her only solo offering. She did have one hit in 1980, although that was a duet and only a hit in Australia. She certainly deserved more and of course she passed away last year. I had been listening to the Quicksilver Messenger Service album “Solid Silver” and she sings all over that thing making it from a merely good to great album in my opinion.


Joe Walsh – Barnstorm

      This past year I developed a deeper appreciation for all things Joe Walsh. Even though he’s had commercial success, somehow he gets overlooked when it comes to those contemplating the seriously talented artists of the rock era. His classic core albums from the James Gang days and beyond are all really good. This one could be the best. I’ve played it a lot this year and it rates quite a few notches above even the best of his output during this time. Joe Walsh is a straight up no BS talent who can keep company with the best of ‘em and yes I do mean the Paul McCartney’s and Brian Wilsons of our time. There, I said it! Deal with it! Ha!


John Fahey - America (2LP reissue version)

Tim Buckley – Blue Afternoon

      Now John Fahey merits a whole entry to himself here (which will be forthcoming in the new year). Suffice to say I caught the Fahey bug too. This America double LP comes from the somewhat inconsistent 4 Men With Beards reissue label. Luckily my copy of this record is nice and sounds great. Of course, the more-obsessed-than-me have pointed out the reissue differs from the original release (some music cut out – way more included – the original was a single LP). I don’t have an original yet, but someday I’m sure. John Fahey played steel-string solo acoustic guitar, made up a lot of stories, didn’t sing and sometimes dabbled in electronic music and avant garde stuff too. He called himself American Primitive (to differentiate himself from those on the “folk” music circuit with whom he was lumped for live festivals and such). But he did a lot more than that, even. Check out the great new film about Fahey. See here:  http://www.johnfaheyfilm.com/

        Tim Buckley is a controversial guitarist who also didn’t want to be lumped in the “folk” bag. He sang a lot and sounded like an “Irish Tenor” of sorts. But he had lots of different phases. Most of which I have yet to hear. This isn’t the only album of his I have, but it’s the one I’ve played more – and with surprising frequency too! It just has a groove of its own. Like getting pulled down the rabbit hole of some strange world, but in a good way. But you gotta like acoustic music otherwise you’re out of luck. Buckley led a tragically short life which was sadly repeated with his son Jeff years later in the 90s. I can’t say I know much about Jeff Buckley, but he certainly was a big deal before his also early death in the 90s. I’m sure I’ll get to his music down the line…….


Little Feat – Dixie Chicken
Little Feat – Feats Don’t Fail Me Now 

    I’ve had these albums for awhile. For some reason they both really clicked with me this year and I couldn’t stop playing them. I have other Little Feat records that I like, but these two are just so good to hear one after the other. There is a real lonesome quality to this music, not unlike the lonesome Americana sound of the first two albums by The Band. Lowell George was quite a talent – great singer, songwriter, guitar player, producer, bandleader……the works! These albums cover an interesting artistic ground that ranges from the roots of American music right through the times in which they were created straight into the future (or the projected future). I don’t know what it was – I just had a real emotional reaction to hearing this music to the point where I couldn’t deny the genius behind the art.


The Beach Boys – That’s Why God Made the Radio

Beach Boys – Surfin’ Safari – mono Capitol green-label reissue LP

Okay you nitpickers - I couldn't find a picture of the green-label reissue so here's my original copy. Of course it has the EQ roll-off funk that is totally missing from the green-label reissue so in this case the original is not the best sounding copy but you already would have guessed that......

 The most recent new Beach Boys release and the first! The new album is actually very enjoyable – it might not be Pet Sounds, but what is? It certainly sounds miles better than the last time The Beach Boys had Brian Wilson’s full involvement on a whole LP record. That was in 1985 for the self-titled release “The Beach Boys”. The biggest offender on that ill-fated album was the production which was all 80s gated drums and synth effects – totally inappropriate for who The Beach Boys are.  While the songs there were decent enough, the over-zapped 80s production really ruined the whole thing.

    Although, as a fan I really miss the presence of Carl Wilson on the new album it really does hold its own and is easily the best thing the core members have done together since, what…..Sunflower maybe? That’s Why God Made the Radio is a wholly enjoyable record with no cringe-inducing moments, not even from Mike Love!

    Contrasting the new one with the FIRST Beach Boys album – it took me a long time to find this green-label Captiol reissue of the “Surfin’ Safari” LP! What makes this issue worthwhile to seek out is the fact that it is only the second time it was ever issued in TRUE MONO sound. The first pressings were mono, of course. Then, every other reissue Capitol put out from the late 60s to the early 80s featured the crappy Duophonic (fake stereo) mix. I even got hoodwinked into buying one of those 70s orange-label Capitol reissues thinking it contained the mono mix. Nope. The downside to the green-label issue is that it is missing two tracks from the original release. The Beach Boys core catalog reissues from this time shaved off a few tracks per release – I think there was some weird contractual thing going on here – many of which appeared on a standalone release from this time titled “Be True to Your School”. I really don’t get the logic behind this wacky butchering of the original Beach Boys catalog at this point, but it sure is confusing!

    Adding to the confusion is that this arrangement only seemed to effect the US reissues. I have a Canadian green-label reissue LP of the “Little Deuce Coupe” album which, according to the cover notes is missing a few tracks as per my description above. The record however features ALL the tracks that appeared on the original release. So Canadian copies of this batch of reissues are worth seeking out to get all the tracks where they belong. Of course now I want to find a Canadian green-label reissue of the mono “Surfin’ Safari” album. (Which, by the way, is primitive as hell with goofy songs like “Cukoo Clock” and “You’re My Miss America” – really silly stuff, but it reflects the presumed innocence of pre-JFK assassination America in a way you can’t hear anywhere else. These guys were really BOYS when they cut this album!)

    Didja get all that? See – this is the kind of stuff Steve and I would spend many fascinating hours talking about. The inner workings of the various issues of classic albums that we loved. I'll be posting more of the research we both did over the years here in the future. In the meantime, keep spinning those platters and, above all, lets all enjoy the music while we're still here. Keep a light in the window for those we'll be missing these holidays. Thanks for stopping by as usual and here's to bright moments in the new year for us all! Amen!

Richie Havens - Let Freedom Ring!

Aside from the fact that I consider myself a loyal, if not rabid, fan of Richie Havens I’d have to admit I’m probably the least ably-equipped to write a eulogy about him in the wake of his recent passing. I don’t own all of his albums. Only saw him perform twice and certainly not at Woodstock. He lived right in my neck of the woods too. Buddies of mine jammed with him – one even toured with him for many years. I never met him. Supposedly he was the voice of the Folgers Coffee commercial song. Could be true, but that will hardly be his legacy.

Even as much as I enjoy the albums I have of his catalog I can’t say he was best represented on the plastic platter (though all of his records have great moments – and at least one is a stone classic, but more on that later). Like probably most of humanity I first saw / heard Richie Havens via the Woodstock Movie. Now, talk about a defining performance! If his star was slowly rising at the moment when he walked on stage in the heat of that August day in 1969, he walked off of it as the father of the Woodstock Nation, for better or worse. He kicked the festival off in such a profoundly powerful way – simply iconic. Especially cemented by the film. In fact, the rest of the musical performances pretty much go downhill from there with a few exceptions. Richie Havens was arguably the BEST thing about that whole festival, musically speaking.

So before I had any of his records I went to see him live. He opened up for Arlo Guthrie at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie -  I think it was around 1986 or so. Arlo’s set was fun and enjoyable, but once again – the best thing about the concert was the opening act – Richie Havens! I can’t remember if he did the Motherless Child / Freedom thing. Funny to think that since it was the only song I knew of his at the time. But I do have some vivid memories of the rest of the performance which is a not too frequent occurrence for me at concerts – usually I get swept away and that’s all folks! Gone in the sands of time.

But Richie Havens was different. First of all I don’t think I’d ever seen a person with nothing but an acoustic guitar hold an audience spellbound before. His delivery was powerful, yet he projected an immensely friendly vibe. I remember him singing this interesting, intricate song only to realize halfway through he was doing Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” – a song I knew well, just like everybody else – yet I didn’t recognize it at first because Richie did it HIS way, yet it was still AWESOME! That blew my mind. Also – he told some crazy story about a guy who he learned a song from that he knew from the Village scene in the early 60s. Then he did this song  - called “What About Me”. I’d never heard this song before, but in its original incarnation it was a semi-wistful hippie ballad from Quicksilver Messenger Service (from the pen of Dino Valenti). Richie’s performance the night I saw him was like full-on raging fury and indignation at injustice culminating in the line “If you’re prepared to stand up for what you do believe be PREPARED TO BE SHOT DOWN!!”

When he hit that point in the song you could have shoved a banner in my hand and I would have been ready to march from Poughkeepsie to San Diego in protest of ……..just about anything! Never before or since have I heard a singer rouse an audience quite like Richie Havens did that night. RIVETING! Immediately after the applause died down he clutched what looked like a roll of rough, brown paper towels – like the kind they use in school cafeterias – tore off a slice and proceeded to blow his nose onstage! He apologized for having a cold that night (never would have guessed) and, when looking somewhat dismayed about what to do with a handful of snot-covered industrial rough brown paper-toweling onstage in front of hundreds of people, he did the only logical thing: shoved the lot of it inside the hole of his acoustic guitar saying, “Well, you know – sometimes guitars have to eat too!” And right onto the next tune…………I just about died! Arlo Guthrie could have whistled the Star-Spangled Banner from his nose, standing on his head and spitting pennies and wouldn’t have caused as much of a sensation.

Years later in the early 90s I won tickets to see Richie Havens perform at the Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center. This time he had a full band with him which included the great Hudson Valley guitar sensation Bill Perry. Bill has also since left us, but he was Richie’s main second guitar foil for many years. Many local blues musicians looked up to Bill Perry – he was a great talent. It sure was cool to see him onstage with Richie that night. Yet, the performance was kind of subdued. Still great and inspiring of course, but something happened that night in Lincoln Center that really stayed with me and got me thinking. At some point during the show, Richie Havens was ready to perform a John Lennon song (I think it was “Imagine”) and he prefaced the tune with a little introduction about Lennon’s dedication to world peace – really holding Lennon’s memory in high esteem and interestingly the audience that night gave very tentative applause for the sentiment. In the intervening years since Lennon’s tragic murder a lot of information had come out to reveal his very human nature and problems. I got the sense that the audience just wasn’t really willing to go along with Richie in elevating John Lennon’s memory in quite the way he was hoping they would. Actually, I felt then and I feel now that, if anything, Richie Havens embodied the sentiments of the 60s better than John Lennon ever did.

Anyway, I kept looking for a recording of Ritchie doing “What About Me”. I eventually found a CD - The Richie Havens Collection on Rykodisc. This was a compilation of tracks from his solo albums of the early 70s – none of which I had. “What About Me” was on there, but it was – amazingly – kinda smooth, mellow and slick-sounding in a studio production kind of way. Shucks. I liked it raw and acoustic. The rest of the disc had some good moments, but nothing as energized as that 1986 performance. So I kind of shied away from buying any of his more recent releases. And, stupidly, I missed opportunities to see him one more time. I really thought he would live forever since he was so profoundly energized and full of life and generally inspiring in his art!

I have read that his more recent albums are quite good and I must make the effort to track them down. But one of his old albums has a “desert-island disc” status for me:

 This is not just Richie Havens’ masterpiece, but it is simply one of my all-time favorite records – period! I would not want to be without this album. Most of the two LP album is studio stuff, but it was the “live” side four that sent me out to track it down. A local college radio station played pretty much that whole side of the record on the air which included a fun little piece of audience participation via Richie’s cover of the Beatles song “With a Little Help from My Friends”. Hearing that concert performance reminded me of what I saw and heard so I went looking.

I did eventually find what amounted to a re-issue on the MGM label. But it was clean and sounded good (and it remains the only copy I’ve had – pretty much satisfied!). I was happy to hear the live stuff I heard on the radio again, but as I gradually dug into the other three sides I began to realize this was a really solid and excellent double album!

Side One commences with a pretty rockin’ cut – “Stop Pulling and Pushing Me” is a quick, insistent psych-folk-rock song with some fairly manic drumming from Skip Prokop. After such a jarring leadoff track, the next song is quite the opposite. “For Haven’s Sake” is a long, meditative song that eventually evaporates in thin air (as opposed to fading out).  The next track is a very good cover of “Strawberry Fields Forever”. Richie would eventually have his own hit single with “Here Comes the Sun” and in both of these cases (and many more) he manages to prove that he can sing other people’s material and not just do it justice, but in some cases rival the original. Although it may be a bit much to take that position on his Beatles covers he does manage to make their songs sound as much like HIM as it will always be THEM. The same is true of his Bob Dylan covers and especially his cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Priests”. I really like how Richie does this song on the album and I’m not a Leonard Cohen fan!

I’m sorry to say I didn’t get to participate in Richie’s farewell at the Bethel site last month. He wanted his ashes to be scattered over the original festival grounds and his wishes were honored. Although there are a lot of great talents that keep leaving us here on planet earth, I will really miss not having the opportunity to be inspired by another one of Richie Havens’ live performances. In these jaded and cynical post-industrial days of madness, the ability of an artist to slice through the many built up layers of BS to reach right into the hearts of an audience is a truly magical thing. To get the chance to experience and re-experience that is what keeps us going to shows hoping to get connected to THE BIG NOTE one more time.

RIP Richie and thanks for passing on those great vibrations………..

One good Sonny deserves another.........

I'm still listening to Sonny Rollins, but I recently came across this outrageous drum solo by the great Count Basie drummer SONNY PAYNE. It takes him a little bit to get cooking - the best part is the finale. Definitely worth watching until the very end! Don't miss this entertaining and uplifting drum solo.

The great Sonny Payne!

 I'm just checking in for a quick minute here..........more to come down the line. In the meantime, here's some more wisdom from Sonny Rollins (and some great music too). Enjoy!

Revisions and Re-evaluations – Part One:

It is a real tragedy that Lester Bangs, the great music writer, died as young as he did. According to wiki-land, he was only 33 years old (was he destined not to live beyond “LP” speed?). As I was looking up this factoid I stumbled upon a brief obituary he wrote for John Lennon in the LA Times in that fateful month of December in 1980. I’ll bet it ruffled a few feathers since he refused to pander to sentimentality or myth-building. Check it out here:   Lester's Lennon Obit

What really strikes me about that obituary was how little time Lester had left on the planet when he wrote that piece. He would be gone in only a few more years himself. It is downright odd for me to realize I have outlived both of these men whose work I admire. They will always be “older” than me in my mind.

Of the many qualities I admire about Lester Bangs’ writing, the most fascinating to me is his willingness to put his first impressions on the line about any given topic only to eventually re-evaluate and sometimes totally abandon those initial convictions for new ones. This quality is investigated at length in a nifty essay about Lester recently published in the New Yorker by Maria Bustillos – see here for a great article:  Lester


She writes of Lester’s skepticism as “the best kind of skepticism: the skepticism that turns back on the author himself”. Lester liked to disagree with himself in print. One famous example is how he trashed the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street in a scathing review (in 1972) only to write a total about-face review years later.

It seems to me that folks are less willing to put their opinions “out there” – to go out on a limb to tell how they REALLY feel about music these days. Which is a shame since one of the more profound experiences I’ve had in my music-appreciation endeavors is when I suddenly “get” an album, a song, a composer that I never “got” before – or worse yet, totally dismissed. Those “eureka moments” are precious to me. Less impressive is when a piece of music you once admired ends up sounding tired and dated many years down the road. I’ve been there too.

I know I’ve taken a particular stand about certain albums, musicians, etc……here on this blog. But it crossed my mind to revisit some of my posts to see if my opinions have changed or become more sophisticated or less complicated over time. What follows are a few examples of my own musical revisions……..for better or worse!

First of all – in my enthusiasm for all things Judy Henske, I perhaps went a little overboard in my criticism of the original Jefferson Airplane girl-singer Signe Anderson.

True, she may have been influenced by Henske’s version of “High Flying Bird”, but Signe had a distinctive style all her own. This was brought home to me when I found a cool archive release from Signe’s last Jefferson Airplane show at the Fillmore Auditorium on October 15, 1966. The CD is titled “Signe’s Farewell” and it’s really great stuff! Highly recommended for Airplane fans.

I also found a terrific phone interview with Signe conducted by a local radio station in celebration of the CD’s release three years ago. She certainly has been through many challenges in life since the Airplane days, but she sounds like the coolest lady in the world! Check her out here: Signe interview


I have no idea if her vocals ever graced another record – if not that would be a shame. I’ll be on the lookout for more from Signe!


Now, from the cyber-complaint bag there have been two exciting artist revisions announced, whether or not due to my kvetching here I can’t say. We’ll start with the one that is currently available……

My most popular entry here on the blog has been the one I did about Terry Manning. The man himself stopped on by to extend well-wishes which was awesome enough. In that entry, I expressed my dissatisfaction with the current ZZ Top catalog on CD – how it’s been remixed to sound more modern and snazzy (while sacrificing the “funk” of the original mixes). Well kids – kvetching pays off! Behold – the entire ZZ Top catalog with the original, greasy-wonderment of the ORIGINAL MIXES – on compact disc for the first time ever.

And the price is right too – a cool $40 gets you everything. Get the 10 CD box right here: ZZ Top Box


Also exciting is what’s in store for August………….another popular entry I did here awhile ago traced the complicated history of the Fleetwood Mac / Peter Green classic “Then Play On”. For many years, fans of this great album have kvetched – “Why isn’t there a Deluxe Edition of this important record?” Yes, kids – here it is at last – what we’ve been waiting for……the Deluxe “Then Play On”!

You can pre-order it here:  Then Play On Deluxe

Still, once in awhile – ask and ye shall receive!

But what about all the great revisions on my part? Well, here’s one more that I owe to my good keyboard-playing pal Jeremy………..

I finally “got” Keith Jarrett! It took me listening to the great, classic Köln Concert album. I initially was turned off by the vocalizing Jarrett is known for, but somehow I was able to tune that out and the music flowed on into effortless unknown universes…..to the point where I’ve picked up a few more of his many albums. He is one prolific dude!

To bring this back to Lester Bangs……one of his most famous essays was a beautiful piece he did about Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks” album. I remember reading that many years ago, rushing out to buy a copy and……I didn’t get it.

In fact, I STILL don’t get it. Yet, I haven’t ditched the album. And every so often I give it another chance. I’m not giving up yet. Although I wonder if anyone will ever get “Astral Weeks” like Lester did. It’s amazing what we hear and experience in music…..but always good to keep the ears and mind open. Happy listening!