A quick bulletin to advertise an auction I'm doing to support a local Cancer support Centre local to me in the UK. It's The Cavendish Support Centre and offers help & support for people dealing with Cancer diagnosis & treatment and also those living with cancer.
I used their services a couple of times in the last year and can vouch for how much good they do, and it's all run by Charitable donations. There's quite a diverse selection of items from Low, Midlake, Arctic Monkeys, Simon Felice, Kylie (!) etc...
Click here for the eBay auctions - Start 4th Dec (UK time) ends 14th Dec (more items to come tomorrow, 5th Dec which will end on 15th)
As a record made in 2004, by a 17 year old (Connor Kirby-Long), on a small electronica label, this record wasn't destined to be high profile.
I can't recall how I got to hear it, or hear about it, but I do think it's it's one worthy of some attention. If we're talking lazy descriptions, it probably lies somewhere between the hazy digital ambience of Fennesz and the shoegaze of later period My Bloody Valentine. There's also a touch of New Order in tracks like "A Little Secret", if they'd been on Warp records. This is really good record for mixing up the bleak and mournful electronica with warm intimate elements.
With hindsight, in the light of what's referred to by some as the Chillwave / Glo-Fi scene (Washed Out, Twin Shadow, CFCF etc..), this record seems to be a bit of a precursor. And a great thing for people like me who really like electronica, but also like guitars and songs but mistrust contrived fusions.
There's a lot to be said for an artist sticking to their guns. In theory recognition will eventually arrive, hopefully before you shuffle off to the big aftershow, but this doesn't always happen, unfortunately.
In the case of Roy Harper, it's great to see him now namechecked by various alternative folk types, most young enough to be his grandkids. He has, however, spent his whole career on the fringes. Or at least that's how it seems viewed with hindsight. An artist that not many people really know, but who is loved by those "in the know". An archetypal cult?
Nothing is ever written about Roy that doesn't mention those who he's performed with over the years; Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Kate Bush etc. And it's a shame that his recognition relies on his proximity to greatness than recognition of his actual greatness. Does the fact that both John Peel & his sidekick John Walters both wanted his "When an old Cricketer leaves the crease" played at their funerals not tell you something?!
But here we are. November 2011. On the 5th I went to Roys 70th birthday show at Royal Festival Hall in London. Any vague thoughts about a swansong disappear once Roy starts singing, the years do fall away. This show has been reviewed better than I will, so I won't attemp that, suffice to say that with a swansong this good there really is no need to stop any time soon!
Roy was, and remains a truly unique idealist, misfit & genius. A revolutionary and angry young man happy to paint lyrical pictures of a bucolic watercolour England of tradition and history, while simultaneosly railing against wrongs of our time. Outspoken, but happy to let lyrical subtlety do the talking in his many songs of love and loss.
There won't be Rick Rubin-esque "happy ending" to Roy's career, a "homecoming" for the MTV/iTunes generation. He will continue to stick to his guns, doing whatever he chooses, hopefully many more albums and shows. Maybe it would be nice to see some of his more influential champions (Jimmy Page, Kate Bush, Joanna Newsom, Johnny Marr etc.) acting as his producer to coax more music from him... who knows?
At the show, it was sad for him to reflect with us on the recent deaths of both his peer Bert Jansch and his one-time collaborator David Bedford, who would have been at the show were it not for his passing a month previously. Bedford contributed amazing orchestration on Harpers tour-de-force Stormcock album, which stands as an album-amongst-albums, right up there in the "how have I never heard this before" chart, a true unsung classic record, hailed by Johnny Marr and Joanna Newsom amongst others. Long may this journey continue. I can only thank those who introduced me to the music of Roy (Marc Mac & Ed Wilson).
If you are not already familiar with his music, his recent "Songs of Love & Loss" compilation and the previous "Counter Culture" are good starting points. His own website is a good place to start buying what's available, and you really should.
What we have here is a rare record company promotional item from 1975/76. It's 25 minutes-a-side promotional piece, put together like a radio show, presented by "whispering" Bob Harris.
Download mp3s here Download flac here (on their way!)
Thanks for the continuing support. There's plenty more music on the way!
As far as some of the older posts are concerned, several of the links are dead now and I've had a few requests to re-upload stuff, so I'll be sorting these out & making the music downloadable again soon.
Here we have a soundtrack to a film I've never seen. A little heard album by one of the pillars of leftfield guitar music, despite having been recorded in 1986 just after their great "Evol" album, and just before their (arguable career peak) "Sister" album.
This is a great addition to their studio albums, and appears here on it's own merit entirely. It also appears here now, just as the future of the group looks doubtful due to the split of Thurston & Kim.
I first heard this band on John Peel in 1986. Believe it or not, this is the tune that hooked me. Certainly for the next 3 or 4 albums they were a real passion of mine. I have to say I lost my way with them round about the "Dirty" album and after. I did see them live a few times after that, the latest time being 1995-ish? (I also saw them doing the Daydream Nation album at the excellent Primavera in Barcelona in 2007). I've dipped into their output a few times since, particularly "Rather Ripped". But for me the mid/late 80s stuff was the thing I think of with SY.
Well here we are, back in the saddle with a great DJ mix from producer Gavin Russom (thanks to FACT magazine). His name seems to have popped up a few times over the last couple of years with some interesting stuff, as well as in collaboration with Delia Gonzalez.
This is definitely worth checking out if you like your synthesizers analogue and your beats repetitive. Ditto if you're as familiar with krautrock as you are with chicago/acid.
Back into battle we go.
Tracklist: Diamond Vampires “Friday Nights” [Unreleased] Steven Halpern “Dancing Through the Rainbow, Part I” [Halpern Sounds] Franco Cinelli “Acid Cut Pt. 2″ [Traut Muzik] Vince Watson “Qualia” [Planet E] Peter Van Hoesen “Resol” [Morse] Fanon Flowers “Acid Kush” [Studio Sound] Steve Lawler “Kalimba” [R&S] DJ Qu “Party People Clap” [Deconstruct Music] Levon Vincent “Double Jointed Sex Freak” [Novel Sound] JM Strap “The Owl in Daylight” [Frigio]
Thanks for the support. I'm glad people are visiting us here. If you so wish, please feel free to leave any comments. EE will be back next week, after a short intermission. x
While we're on the subject of Lord Sabre. Here's a link to something called "Facebook" (?). It's some kind of new fangled thing, that enables people who work in offices to spend their time talking rubbish and uploading photographs while getting paid. Amazing. This really is the future. But where the f*ck is my hover car?
I hope you're all purchasing and joining in to support the UK independent sector after their recent losses after the fire at the Sony storage facility. I do keep hearing stories daily about the losses to certain labels, many of which are much loved here at EE Towers.
Also much loved round here is Mr Andrew Weatherall esquire. As I've said before, I've danced my legs down to the knees to him many times and in more recent years had the great pleasure of warming up the technics for him too. He is indeed a gent an a scholar of the highest order.
A Sony DADC owned storage facility was burned down in London, destroying stock for the majority of UK independant labels. (a list of labels distributed via.PIAS is here)
Various support websites/funds have been set up to help these labels, as many have stock insured at cost price not sale price etc... And of course this is a huge blow to the independant sector, who try and stand strong in the face of the majors and the changing face of the industry.
So, at the very least, go and buy some downloads from your favourite artists/labels from the list of those affected.
(By the way - I don't work for an indie label/shop, or work in the industry at all)
Oh, and on the subject of the "riots". Lets push to reverse the cuts made to policing, social services etc... and lets try and fix the underlying problems instead of just focusing on punishing the individuals (which does need to happen).
Lets also not forget about the moral bankruptcy of the press and bribes paid to police by Murdoch and News International. How come the Guardian/Hugh Grant got to the bottom of the Hacking issue and not the Police investigation?!!Who was running the country?!
This was a collaboration between Andy Ramsay and Simon Holliday, with contributions from the late great Mary Hansen and Pete Kember aka. Sonic Boom. It appeared as a 3 track 7” single in 1997, in quite small quantities I think. So here it is, in all it’s bubbling analogue glory. From my record deck to your ears.
Side A - Splitting The Atom (Part One) / Splitting The Atom (Part Two) Side B - Monkey Brain
Here we present the first Easter Everywhere compilation/mixtape. To kick things off, volume 1 focuses on recent stuff (well, from the last 2 years).
The image on the cover is a triple exposed picture taken with a Diana F+ camera near Arbor Low, Derbyshire, in summer 2010 CE.
If you send me a blank tape in the mail (address available on request...), you can have this on a C90.
Mixtape/compilation -wise, news on what you can probably expect on these pages in the future is here.
Side 1: 1. Lower Dens - Blue & Silver 2. Black Lips - Bicentennial Man 3. Moon Duo - Scars 4. Dirtbombs - Shari Vari 5. Archie Bronson Outfit - Chunk 6. Chain & The Gang - It's A Hard, Hard Job (Keeping Everybody High) 7. Clinic - Male Stripper 8. Low - Witches 9. Les Savy Fav - Dirty Knails 10. Women - Heat Distraction 11. Sarabeth Tucek - Splash 1 (Now I'm Home)
Side 2: 12. Psychedelic horseshit - Laced 13. Woods - Find Them Empty 14. The Soundcarriers - Last Broadcast 15. TOKiMONSTA - Sa Mo Jung 16. Barbara Morgenstern - Der Augenblick 17. Spectrum - Mary 18. MGMT - Congratulations 19. Washed Out - Amor Fati 20. CFCF - Upon the Hill 21. Walls - Burnt Sienna
Boom. Bring the sleaze. Pink Mountaintops - Scuzzier alter-ego of Black Mountain man Stephen McBean.
Just for today we depart from sentence construction as we know it. This is just a small offering. A little 7" from a couple of years back. Punky Gonzoid rock with contrasting flipside. You need to accessorize your life with this.
I like garage rock, used to be obsessed by 60s stuff and was chuffed when the who shoegaze thing started back in ... er... whenever it was? 1990? I even remember My Bloody Valentine pre-shoegaze, I saw them support The Soup Dragons back in 1986, in Liverpool, at The Mountford Hall (well the smaller side bit). When the Soup Dragons were circa "Hang Ten" etc... not their limp Madchester bandwagon jump that came later ...
Anyway, I first heard Serena Maneesh back in 2005 and really liked this ep. By the time of their 1st lp proper, they'd gone a bit darker, but were still ploughing fairly uniquely rocky take on druggy psychedelic shoegaze thing. It's well worth seeking out.
I've not heard their latest work. I'll let you know when I do.
This here e.p. (or mini album I suppose as it's 40-odd minutes long) is a great piece in the Jim O'Rourke discography. It takes in both his John Fahey-esque acoustic stuff and his loptop experimentalism, with smatterings of his jazzy americana thrown in too. I'd even go out on a limb and say, to me at least, this is a more essential piece than his more recent "Visitor" album.
Here's a brief summary of essentials from his discography, with comments ... for newcomers: "Happy Days" (Revenant Records 1997) - another drone, acoustic, experimental treat "Eureka" (Drag City 1999) - contains his cover of Ivor Cutlers "Women of the World", and the O'Rourke greats "Ghost Ship in a Storm" & "Through The Night Softly" "Halfway to a Threeway" ep (Drag City 1999) - long e.p. containing some of his best acoustic songs "I'm Happy and I'm Singing and a 1, 2, 3, 4" (Mego 2001) - perhaps his best laptop glitch-tronica output, avant-garde but brilliant! "Insignificance" (Drag City 2001) - his "straightest" album. All restrained arrangements (but still clever!) dark, bittersweet lyrics with some rougher guitars thrown in too. Happy Trails
For some reason I missed this album when it first appeared. When I did come to it though, I was pleased to see names I knew (Low, Mogwai, Bowery Electric, Arab Strap) next to names I didn't. And I do love a good cover version, and sometimes I love a bad one too ...
A lot of the other bands on here are influenced by, or coming from the same place as Spacemen 3 were, so it's great to hear them developing the songs on different tangents. But nothing veers too far from spirit of the originals, except maybe Flowchart's version - and I was never very convinced about that! It's not radical, but it is a great listen for fans of Spacemen 3 or any of the bands on it.
1. Things'll Never Be The Same - Bowery Electric 2. Losing Touch With My Mind - The Asteroid #4 3. Honey - Mogwai 4. Ode To Street Hassle - Flowchart 5. I Believe It - Accelera Deck 6. Revolution - Arab Strap 7. Call the Doctor - Bardo Pond 8. Hey Man - Frontier 9. Lord, Can You Hear Me? - Low 10. So Hot (Wash Away All Of My Tears) - AMP 11. How Does It Feel? - Piano Magic 12. Billy Whizz - Transient Waves
Stereolab are a band who have developed a fair bit over their career, starting off as more straight-ahead drone Neu!-esque indie, moving into flirtations with post-rock and more experimental production, then heading more Bossa-nova Astrud Gilberto influenced in the latter years. Mind you, having written that, quite a few tracks that contradict that come to mind! Either way, I've liked them for a long time and been lucky to see them several times over different phases of their career.
Of recent years, I think the "Margerine Eclipse" album is a real gem in their catalogue, and what we have here was a limited edition single on their tour for that album in 2004.
Ernest Green aka. Washed Out has put together 2 6 Music Mixes in support of the great "Within and Without" LP that's just come out.
Mix #1 "Influences" 10cc — I'm Not In Love / Boards of Canada — Olson / Koushik — Be With / DJ Shadow — Six Days / Boz Scaggs — Low Down / Madlib — Pyramids (Changes) / Arthur — Sunshine Soldier / Grouper — Heavy Water / [unknown] — Unknown Title
Here in the UK, we're not as used to the sun as some of you lucky folks in sunnier climes. This album is making an appearance as it's a great "kick back in the sun" record (as well as just being a great record!).
Back in 2007, I went to the excellent Primavera Sound with my friends Jeff, Laura, Jody & co. It was/is really a great festival & you can get a full dose of Barcelona while your there as it's not a camping festival, so you stay in the city, which is a culinary treat! You can't argue with the lineup either: Sonic Youth, The Fall, Patti Smith, Comets on Fire, Low, Durutti Column, The Dirty Three, Robyn Hitchcock, White Stripes, The Melvins etc...
Performance of the weekend was from Comets on Fire (me & Jeff thought...), but one of the best things about festivals is coming away having got into some stuff you'd not known before. One of those for me was the stoned bluesy drones of Brightblack Morning Light. On our way back home to the S.Y., we stopped off at Probe Records in Liverpool and picked this one up, as well as a few others. So here it is. Lay back in the sun. xxx
This is a compilation of music from the soundtracks of 4 low profile films: "Old Joy" (2006), "Junebug" (2005), "Game 6" (2005) and "Shortbus" (2006). It wasn't on their usual label, so it's quite hard to track down.
It's a (hidden) gem of moody atmospheric instrumental stuff. That said, there is some rocking stuff on here. There's 27 tracks, so I won't clog up the blog with that long list. Find that info here.
I was Djing with Rob Bright once and he swore he'd seen YLT playing with Neil Innes and Sonic Boom! A few years later I googled it & it was indeed true. Wish I'd seen that ... mp3s
Boom! As promised, here's the limited bonus disk that came with the excellent Moon Duo album. I think it was available on pre-orders, but mine came from the ever excellent Rough Trade.
The "Mazes" album has hit the spot with me, much more than their earlier ep's did. But what we have here is the results of letting various folks loose on a remix tip. That man Sonic Boom pops up here with 2 great versions, which is reason enough to get involved! What can I say, this is a nice add-on to a really great album you should probably go and purchase.
1. Scars - Sonic Boom Remix 2. Seer - Psychic Ills Remix 3. Run Around - Organ Desert Remix 4. In The Sun - Purling Hiss Remix 5. When You Cut - Gary War Remix 6. Fallout - Sonic Boom Remix 7. Mazes (Walking Through This Space) - Eagle Boston Cover
This is a rare one. A self-released cd from their 2007 tour, comprising rarities and outtakes.
Those unfamiliar with SoTL, probably need to know that we're talking about ambient music, with drones, no beats or vocals with plenty of strings, often treated with effects. Put simply, their music is exquisite cloud watching music (in a good way). I'm definitely not one to dismiss all music classed as ambient as new-age rubbish. Some of it is, undoubtedly, but not this lot. Oh no. This is deep, heavy, beautiful stuff.
1. The Mouthchew (Part 2) 2. JPRIP 3. Requiem String Melody 4. Porch (Version#28) 5. The Kraut 6. Slight On The Childproof 7. Virginia (20.03) 8. Hunting For Pops 9. The Funereal
- Tracks 1, 6 and 8 are out takes from "And Their Refinement Of The Decline" - Tracks 2 and 3 are out takes from "The Tired Sounds Of" - Track 4 is an out take from "Maneuvering The Nocturnal Hum" - Tracks 5 and 9 are previously unreleased (1999 and 1997 respectively) - Track 7 was previously released as part of "The Kahanek Incident - Volume 3"
I'm a big big fan of the work of Guillermo Scott Herren. The first moment I picked up the "Estrocaro" ep by Prefuse 73 I was a fan. This was followed by the great "Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives" LP and a steady stream of good material from there on in. His stuff has evolved over the years, but the Quality has remained high, despite how prolific he's been.
This album came out in 2009, the same year as the "Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian", but limited to a Japanese release. Thus making it hard to get hold off and very much under the radar. So other than getting the old radar looked at, here is said album in all it's glory.
For this release, there's none of the usual smattering of guest MC contributions and the tracks are longer than the short sketches on the "Ampexian..." album. Where one of his other low key releases "Sleeping on Saturday and Sunday Afternoons" (credited to Guillermo Scott Herren and I'm sure a future subject of this blog) leans heavily on his Savath & Savalas work, this one is 100% Prefuse 73. It really is a highlight in his catalogue.
What can you say about this record that hasn't already been said? - It's a gem in Neil's catalogue, that somehow has never had a proper re-issue / cd release? - That it was the "commercial suicide" album after Harvest?
Well, it was Neil laying out his stall. Saying "I'll do what I want"... given a crossroads he'll take the least obvious or most difficult path.
Recorded live, mainly on a 1973 tour, this followed up the massive Harvest album of 1972. This was not the obvious way to go. As himself said "'Heart of Gold' put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch." Rather than playing his well known stuff, this tour showcased new material, to the dismay of audiences. The resulting album was hated by critics.
Neil himself also wasn't keen saying "I think it's the worst record I ever made - but as a documentary of what was happening to me, it was a great record." Indeed it had been a bad time, Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten was going to play 2nd guitar on this tour but had died of an overdose.
There's reams and reams of stuff written about this album, so I won't go on. Apparently a release was scheduled in the 90s, but it was pulled. So allegedly CD bootlegs of this lp are taken from the 90s "test pressing". It's all surrounded in mystery really, the original was apparently "...Mastered 16-Track Direct To Disc (acetate) by Computer". Straight to disk, in other words no master tape?! How did they do the 90s proposed CD then? Or did they do it at all. Is the 90s "test pressing" a fan produced bootleg mastered from 8-Track tape? Hmm...
Either way, the petition (!) came to nothing & there's been no re-release. It does contain one of his best, and most autobiographical tracks "Don't Be Denied". So don't wait for someone cooler than me to recommend it.
I've had the pleasure of DJing with him a few times too and I can vouch that he is indeed a first rate chap.
Of more recent times his electronica/electro/techno outfit Two Lone Swordsmen has been gradually shifting, incorporating all his other influences (Cramps, Stooges, Rock'n'Roll, Rockabilly, post-punk etc...). Their last for Warp Records, 2004's "From the Double gone Chapel" album, wasn't one of my favourites, but his next "Wrong Meeting" definitely was. It was still dark, but now contained hooks and Mr Weatherall himself handling the vocal duties. Unfortunately, I don't think it got the distribution or the push it deserved. I definitely had a struggle to get a copy ...
Those of you who know earlier Two Lone Swordsmen or even earlier Sabres of Paradise, will be surprised. But surprise is good. And if you're liking this, you really should track down "Wrong Meeting" and "Wrong Meeting 2" at you local record emporium.
It's great to see Pete Kember aka. Sonic Boom aka. Spectrum cropping up a fair bit of late, from production of MGMT & Panda Bear to some great Spectrum releases. (There's a great recent interview here)
His last LP was an interesting one ("Indian Giver" under the name "Spectrum meets Captain Memphis" with the late James Luther Dickinson.... subject of future blog) and his live shows were great round that time too. This limited split 7" release (for Record Store Day 2011) contains a glorious extended version of the opening track from that release, "Mary". A tribute to the late great Mary Hansen from Stereolab over 7+ minutes of exquisite Neu!/garage drone.
That track is reason alone to buy this, but the flip is great too. New Yorker Christopher Porpora aka. Cheval Sombre, with Kember on mixing duties, turns in a low key bit of psychedelic folk, promising good things for his forthcoming lp ....
This is a great Domino Records compilation given away with the Wire magazine. I remember at the time, I really liked Domino as they had some great left-field indie (in the old sense) stuff and some great electronica too. I think when I heard this it confirmed my liking for the label.
In the light of their success with Franz Ferdinand and then the massive success of Arctic Monkeys, this is a particularly interesting snapshot of a label yet to gatecrash the mainstream. It also predates the likes of James Yorkston, Four Tet etc...
Regardless of all that, its a really good compilation with some really good tracks on by some great artists which, above all, hangs together really well. You can't argue with Mouse on Mars, The Pastels, Silver Jews, Papa M, Royal Trux, Smog & Jim O'Rouke can you?! And that's only half of it.... it's only a shame there's no Flying Saucer Attack.
I remember being blown away by Manitoba (as they were), back around 2005-ish, at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds. (Thanks for driving Rick, we found it eventually..!). Having only heard their Boards of Canada-esque debut "Start Breaking My Heart", we were surprised to see a drums/keyboard, 2 guitar lineup! But what a show it was. Quite a an achievement that 3 people could make such a manic shoegaze, psychedelic, joyous noise.
Anyway, many moons later, the ever-wonderful Rough Trade bundled 2 extra disks (in store) with their 2010 album "Swim". One of these was the mixtape you see here. There's no info on the cover or disk, except what you see over on the left there. I forget where on the internet this tracklist came from and I can't vouch for it's accuracy, but here it is anyway (any info welcome!!):
1. Caribou - Bowls (Bowlapella) [City Slang/Merge] 2. Yellow Magic Orchestra - Firecracker [???] 3. Daphni - Ahora [Unreleased] 4. Crash Course In Science - Flying Turns [Stones Throw] 5. Unknown - Egyptian Wedding (Luxor) [Philips] 6. Caribou - Odessa (David Wrench’s Drumapella) [City Slang/Merge] 7. Sunburned Hand of the Man - Loft At Sea [Ecstatic Peace] 8. Moodymann - Freeki Mutha F cker [KDJ] 9. Caribou - Hannibal (Drumapella) [City Slang/Merge] 10. E.S.P - It’s You [Underground Records] 11. Kikrokos - Life’s A Jungle (Ron Hardy Edit) [White] 12. Clyde Alexander - Gotta Get Your Love [BBE] 13. Sound Stream - ‘Live’ Goes On [Sound Stream] 14. Bernard Parmegiani - Moins L’Infini [INAGRM] 15. Daphni - Arp [Unreleased] 16. Omar-S - Just Ask the Lonely.[FXHE] 17. Bernard Parmegiani - L’Impouvoir III – Les Chateaux [INA-GRM] 18. Hard House Banton - Sirens [Spoilt Rotten] 19. Thomas Mapfumo - Shumba (Daphni Edit) [Unreleased] 20. Kevin Volans - Mbira [World Network] 21. Shuggie Otis - Strawberry Letter 23 [Luaka Bop]
Things have been a bit slow around here (mind you so have I....). Plus things have been a biased towards old stuff. That's no bad thing, but y'know I'm not one of those "things ain't what they used to be" types. No sir. In fact, there's a compilation I've done of stuff more recent stuff that I'm listening to that will appear on here soon.
I'm loving Washed Out. Here's a tour CDR that's lighting my candle at the moment. You could do a lot worse than getting yourself the "Life of Leisure" ep, "High Times" from 2009 or the forthcoming album "Within and Without"
OK, let's get this out of the way. There are certain albums I bang on about, that I love. This album is one of them. So maybe this is Part #1 of the ongoing series of "Mark's Cult Classics". Or maybe not.
It's here anyway, and from the count in to Roadrunner to the last bars of Modern World it's a stone cold classic. It's had the reissue treatment a few times, with the odd extra, but it's offered here as the originally released 9 tracks. As it should be I think.
This album was released in 1976, 2 years after the band had split. It comprised 8 tracks recorded with John Cale in 1972 and one recorded in 1971. None of the tracks were intended for release, but as demos.
The Modern Lovers tale of underachievement is told elsewhere, but in these 9 songs the band achieved more than they knew. On one piece of vinyl and 34 minutes 51 seconds they made something approaching garage rock AM radio perfection. If Iggy was the godfather of punk, Jonathan was the weird uncle.
Richman wanted to change direction, and did, contributing to the split of the band. He still produced some great music, but not of the same ilk as these tracks. Jerry Harrison went on to be a member of Talking Heads.
Wind down the windows, turn up & enjoy:
Side one 1. Roadrunner 2. Astral Plane 3. Old World 4. Pablo Picasso
Side two 1. She Cracked 2. Hospital 3. Someone I Care About 4. Girlfriend 5. Modern World
A few years after first hearing the Elevators courtesy of John Peel, he played a few tracks from an album called "Where The Pyramid Meets the Eye", a tribute to Roky Erikson.
Chances are you'll already know the Primal Scream track, it was to be included on Screamadelica. It's still amazing how many people don't know it's an Elevators track. Highlights for me are the Julian Cope cover/re-write of Roky's "I have always been here before", (Cope's version is now included on the deluxe version of his "Jehovahkill" album). Bongwater, Butthole Surfers and Jesus and Mary Chain's takes are also worth a listen. And I have to say that hearing fellow Texans ZZ Top do their high-octane distortion, Eliminator beardy-boogie to Reverberation is always entertaining! The album looks like this:
1. Reverberation (Doubt) - ZZ Top 2. If You Have Ghosts - John Wesley Harding & The Good Liars 3. I Had to Tell You - Poi Dog Pondering 4. She Lives (In a Time of Her Own) - The Judybats 5. Slip Inside This House - Primal Scream 6. You Don't Love Me Yet - Bongwater 7. I Have Always Been Here Before - Julian Cope 8. You're Gonna Miss Me - Doug Sahm & Sons 9. It's a Cold Night For Alligators - Southern Pacific 10. Fire Engine - Richard Lloyd 11. Bermuda - Vibrating Egg 12. I Walked With a Zombie - R.E.M. 13. Earthquake - Butthole Surfers 14. Don't Slander Me - Lou Ann Barton 15. Red Temple Prayer (Two Headed Dog) - Sister Double Happiness 16. Burn the Flames - Thin White Rope 17. Postures (Leave Your Body Behind) - Tabby Thomas, Chris Thomas 18. Nothing in Return - T-Bone Burnett 19. Reverberation (Doubt) - The Jesus and Mary Chain
... If the sampler wasn't enough, or for those of you that didn't manage to pick up the box set reissue of the 13th Floor Elevators stuff back in 2009, you can now get the whole thing from the excellentYoung Moss Tongue Blog - here
Those unfamiliar with their work may want to kick things off with "The Psychedelic Sounds of...", "Easter Everywhere" and "Bull of the Woods" their 3 officially released albums.
From what I can remember, the publicity for this reissue stated that the stereo mixes were "alternate". I'm not sure what they meant by that, but since then, these albums have been released as double disk issues, containing the original stereo mix (remastered from the master tapes) and the mono mix (remastered from an original mono edition vinyl ... something that fans did on the Roky CD Club internet-distributed stuff). These double-disk reissues really are worth buying, as they have great sleeve notes by Paul Drummond who did the superlative Eye Mind book (get if from a proper bookshop if you can, failing that use Amazon..!). Not to mention that fact that the CD box set is now long since sold out & going for silly £$ on eBay.
As the title of the blog gives away, we're fans of The 13th Floor Elevators over here at Easter Everywhere Towers. I did originally have in mind to do some kind of sampler/introduction, a la the ongoing Funkadelic opus, but I think the promotional only sampler for the much anticipated (and much needed) "Sign of the Three Eyed Men" remasters box set is as good a starting point as any. As far as I can tell there's at least one track from each disk of the box set, so definitely a good starting point. (Or just rush out and buy "Easter Everywhere" and "The Psychedelic Sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators"!)
My love for the Elevators started the moment I heard John Peel playing "Slide Machine" from "Easter Everywhere" back in 1986. Who was this band? I've never heard anything quite like that before... What was that strange noise through the track? ... etc... And of course seeing Bob Parker (from the legendary Walking Seeds... subjects possibly of a future blog entry I think...) working behind the counter at Probe Records with his Elevators painted leather jacket! Nice.
If you already have the box set, the originals, the individual reissues , the new(!) vinyl box set and all, this is still a great compilation.
...or "A chronological ParliaFunkadelicment Thang" aka. "Cosmic slop by any other name: An ounce of P-Funk"
If there was only one post in this blog it would be this.
It dawned on me the other day, that maybe all the music I own could be fundamentally reduced down to Funkadelic. It’s always what you need.
They wrote the book on psychedelia, funk and everything in between. And they still remain more unsung than they should. They're by no stretch of the imagination totally unsung, but considering what they did, they should be right up there with our established "classic" acts.
There’s politics in there - blues, soul, sex, sweat, redemption, wisdom, bad jokes, good jokes, danger ... all wrapped up inside heavy on-the-one funk, heavy rock, deranged psychedelia, gospel, blues ....
Have the sublime and the ridiculous ever co-existed so closely together in modern music before?
Has any other band rocked so hard while still funking? Or funked so hard while still rocking?
Just the opening 2 tracks from Maggot Brain say almost everything you need to know, “Maggot Brain” going into into the short “Can You Get to that”.
Words really are redundant and ineffective for preparing you for this. If you already know it, there may be a couple of oddments you my not have (Fish, Chips & Sweat direct from the 7” etc...) if you don’t know it I almost envy you. How did you get this far without Funkadelic/Parliament? I wanna know … Parts 1 & 2 focus on the work under the name Funkadelic from 1969 – 1975. Part 3 fills in the gaps and focuses on Parliament from the early releases to the late 70s
Disk 1: 01. "Can't Shake It Loose" 02. "As Good As I Can Feel" Both recorded 1969, scheduled for single release. From the essential 45s compilation “music for my mother”. 03. "I'll Bet You" Single version of the track from the “Funkadelic” album 1970, collected on the essential 45s compilation “music for my mother”. 04. "I Got A Thing, You Got A Thing, Everybody Got A Thing" From the 1970 album “Funkadelic” 05. "Fish, Chips And Sweat" B’side of the single "I Got A Thing, You Got A Thing, Everybody Got A Thing" 1970 06. "Funky Dollar Bill" Alternate mix of track from the album “Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow” 1970. From the essential 45s compilation “music for my mother”. 07. “Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow” 08. “I Wanna know if it’s good for you” Both from the 1970 album “Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow” 09. "You And Your Folks, Me And My Folks" Extended version of track from the album “Maggot Brain” 1971. From the essential 45s compilation “music for my mother”. 10. “Alice in My Fantasies” [live] 11. “I Call My Baby Pussycat” [live] Both from the live album “Funkadelic Live - Meadowbrook, Rochester, Michigan 1971” 11. “Maggot Brain” 12. “Can You Get to That” Both from the album “Maggot Brain” 1971
Back in the early 80s I was playing 5-a-side football. What else is a footy obsessed kid going to do? As it happens I was decent as well, I was captain, but I didn’t have “it” - not enough to make the grade, but that’s another story for another time. The coach of the team was a rather cool chap called Alan Brown. A loyal Evertonian, massive Cramps fan and a frequenter of a club called Eric’s in Liverpool. He used to tell me & my best friend Dominic (best position: Left back) various tales of weird and wonderful sounds and goings on there; Jayne/Wayne County, The Doctors of Madness, The Cramps, Iggy etc… On Alan’s lapel resided a huge silver badge for his favourite band - Dr Feelgood. I last ran into him in the early 90s, and my dad ran into him a few times too. I hope he’s doing well wherever he is.
Anyway, here’s a compilation dating from 1981 of stuff based on the contents of Eric’s Jukebox. It’s a cracking compilation even if you’ve never heard of the place. You really need this!
Tracklist: A1. Duke Mitchell – The Lion A2. The Rays – Elevator Operator A3. Shelby R. Smith – Jim Dandy Handyman A4. The Playboys – Jungle Fever A5. Billy Prager – Do It Bop A6. Big Al Downing – Georgia Slop A7. The Frogmen – Underwater A8. Tommy Blake – F-Olding Money B1. Jackie Lowell – Rocket Trip B2. Sonny Russell – 50 Megatons B3. The Catalinas – The Catalina Push B4. Bobby Day – Three Young Rebs From Georgia B5. Lamar Morris – The Fugitive B6. The Wailers – Shanghaied B7. Bobby Lee Trammell – New Dance In France B8. Ray Sharpe – Monkey's Uncle
Have you got a hole in your life that needs more Black Sabbath? Haven't we all?
I've never had time for post-Ozzy Sabbath, so this 1975 live recording is just the ticket. I'm told that this is a recording from the Sabotage Tour and was from the The Asbury Convention Hall, N.J. on 6th August. But I like to retain a healthy dose of scepticism about most things, so a pinch of salt may be needed with those details.
As a reasonably long time fan of Sabbath, since picking up their vinyl back in the mid/late 80s, It does seem somewhat strange that they've been "back in" these last few years. A good thing I say, but strange.
Ozzy tends to get the props, but you have to credit them all really. The amazing loose/heavy/tight black country grooves laid down by Bill Ward, Geezer Butler's Bass sitting fat and heavy like a genetic cross of Bootsy and Entwistle (OK I went to far there ...) and Iommi. The SG. The frown (thanks Nigel). The beard topiary. Those Riffs. Legend. His riffing took what had gone before, stripped it down, battered it and deep fried it with chips. All echoing the sound of heavy black country industrialisation, while the smell of rough shag tobacco, brown ale, patchouli and bad rehearsal rooms permeates. However, by the time of this bootleg, early smell of weed and amphetamine had given way to cocaine and things spinning out of control, culminating in Ozzy leaving. In many people's eyes, the end. Of course, Ozzy's vocals cannot be ignored - nothing else would have done the job. Like a wide-eyed soul boy in Primal Scream therapy. Or something.
I always liked pulling out Master of Reality, Paranoid or Sabbath Bloody Sabbath back in the post-rave back-to-mine sessions. It was quite often met with disbelief, but who's laughing now...?!!
Back in the days when I was deafening myself playing records to people in night clubs (ploughing my own furrow of techno, in case you ask), I remember someone asking what a track was. I handed him a sleeve and some minutes later he was still squinting at the hard-to-read print. This inspired me to take various "dummy" sleeves out with me in the trusty record bag, among those was always a few Sabbath sleeves, as well as Leonard Cohen and various others. It was always a pleasure watching people absorbing these mysterious sleeves and I like to think that maybe just one of them became acquinted with the work of Iommi and co. or any of the other things. Or did I just like taking the p*ss? Hmm...
It looks something about like this: Disk 1: 1. Supertzar/Introduction/Killing Yourself To Live 2. Hole In The Sky 3. Snowblind 4. Symptom Of The Universe 5. War Pigs 6. Megalomania 7. Sabbra Cadabra 8. Jam / Guitar Solo 9. Drum Solo / Jam 10. Supernaut 11. Iron Man Disk 2: 1. Orchid / Guitar Solo / Rock'n'roll Doctor / Don't Start (Too Late) 2. Black Sabbath 3. Spiral Architect 4. Embryo / Children Of The Grave 5. Paranoid
In honour of a new Moon Duo record "Mazes"(featuring Ripley from Wooden shjips), here's a link over to the Quietus website which has an interview from the excellent Stool Pigeon and a mix as well.
Sarabeth Tucek has just released her 2nd LP, “Get Well Soon” – there’s plenty of reviews on the internet so I’ll not bore you with further details. Suffice it to say that fans of Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Cat Power … etc. will enjoy this. She’s just basically doing her thing, which involves writing & delivering really good songs – regardless of what’s going on around her. She’s a massive Bob Dylan fan, but I can hear a lot of Neil Young in her songs, especially the loose gritty soulfulness of "Everybody Knows this is Nowhere" and the heavier looser moments of "Harvest" / "After the Goldrush" Previously she sang with The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Smog (aka. Bill Callahan). Her first album was absolutely great, but is really hard to get hold of. I assume as she was signed to Echo records in the UK, and Echo records is no more, that it’s a classic case of record comes out, label goes bust, record disappears. That’s a shame cos it’s a far better record than a lot of stuff out there.
"A set of songs that are often as disquietingly spare as they are beautiful" UNCUT (4 STARS) “Heartbreaking” MOJO “A timeless little wonder” BBC “Absolutely amazing.″ NME (8/10) “Her rich, sad voice makes her rise above the pack” DAILY TELEGRAPH
The Black Sessions are live performances broadcast on the radio station France Inter. They are hosted by a talkative chap called "Bernard Lenoir" (Bernard the Black!). I'm told he's viewed as the French John Peel.
In honour of the release of Low's latest album "C'mon", I'm posting a link to Low's Black Session from 2007. He does quite a bit of yapping does our Bernard, but it's still pretty good. And interesting for the fact that the tracks from "Drums & Guns" are played more straightforwardly than on that LP.
Stuff, lots of stuff happened. But ultimately, the year started and the year ended and there was some music. Here's an unfinished Spotify "Best of..." for 2010. Omissions include stuff not on Spotify and stuff that I forgot.
Link (To state the obvious, you'll need Spotify to listen to this)
The picture relates to 2010 having been the year of the tiger (Feb 2010 - Feb 2011). Apparently "...2010 may see stressful situations caused by capricious events. We are advised to control our fate with confidence and an open heart. To keep both our individual and collective systems free of unbalanced emotions, energy should generally be attuned to passionate, honest and modest frequencies."
After their initial success in the 60s, The Walker Brothers split in 1968. Scott Walker, troubled by depression ended up seeking refuge in a monastery. All 3 "brothers" produced solo records, most notably Scott Walker whose solo records are all stone cold classics. The group re-convened in the 70s and produced 3 albums. The last of these was 1978s "Nite Flights", after which the Walker Brothers were no more. This album is made up of songs written by all 3 of them, with Scott's tracks being the opening 4 tracks (& the ones to download here). These tracks pointed the way to darker, weirder and more experimental territory where his further solo material would go. Sounding as though it was influenced by Bowie's "Low", this record clearly influenced Bowie who has professed his admiration for Scott Walker on many occasions and indeed covered the title track of this LP. Brian Eno has heavily praised this LP too, so it must have sat alongside his krautrock passion as a big influence. Apparently, Midge Ure was inspired by "The Electrician" to write Vienna, but you can't have it all I suppose. So this record is an important piece of the jigsaw, alongside the Bowie/Iggy/Eno ripples from Berlin: - Iggy Pop - The Idiot - David Bowie - Low / "Heroes" / Lodger - Brian Eno - Before and after Science / Music For Airports - Cluster and Eno - Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food etc...
A quick bulletin to advertise an auction I'm doing to support a local Cancer support Centre local to me in the UK. It's The Cavendish Support Centre and offers help & support for people dealing with Cancer diagnosis & treatment and also those living with cancer.
