Free Your Mind... A chronological Introduction to ParliamentFunkadelic Part 1

...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

Part 1 HERE. Play loud.

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


(part 2 coming soon .... )

Various - Jukebox at Eric's Vol 1: Rock 'N' Roll [1981]

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!

Get it HERE, as they say.

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

Black Sabbath - Behind the Wall of Spock

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...

Get this dose of Sabbath HERE

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

Moon Duo - Mazes [interview & mix]

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.

Get you laughing gear round this

Quietus Mix 21: Moon Duo Entering Orbit by The Quietus on Mixcloud

Sarabeth Tucek - Sarabeth Tucek [2007]

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.

Sarabeth Tucek 'Wooden' (from the new album) by Sonic Cathedral

"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

Buy the new album here or here

Download album #1

Low - The Black Sessions [2007]

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.

Get it here Low Black Session 2007 CE at archive.org (listen or download)



The new album can be found here, here or here

2010 - What happened?

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."

The Walker Brothers - Nite Flights [1978]

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...

The film Scott Walker:30 Century Man is essential viewing



Scott Walker - 30 century Man (from Scott 3 [1969])



Tracks 1 - 4 from Nite Flights HERE

Why?

Here's where the blog starts, I've finally got round to it!

Amongst other things it will highlight music worthy of note that may well be under the radar or just hard/impossible to find.

I'm thinking it'll comprise Youtube links, Spotify links & links to where you can download mp3s (in the cases where the music is really hard to find). Like it says in the disclaimer, there's no intention of treading on anyone's copyright toes.

None of the music linked to is stored on this server.

I just need to tweak the appearance now ... actually I might just crack on & do that as it goes along.