RAW MEAT! Vol. 2

UPDATE: Despite repeated tries, I could not get the Zippyshare file to work, so I've moved the file to Box. Let me know if you-all still have any problems, prefer Box to Zippyshare (or other free sharing methods?)
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Continuing our survey of songs from the hippie era that are similar to the surreal, psychedelic humor of the Bonzo Dog Band (git yer Vol. 1 here)...

 Count Otto Black made many contributions to this batch of dog meat, so continued woofs of thanks to him. Vol. 1 was more from me, the more obvious stuff - albums that I'd had for ages (Cream, Pink Floyd,  etc.), but the Count really dug deep for things like the irrational international obscurities that perhaps never washed up on our shores during their initial release.

RAW MEAT! Vol.2 (Google Drive)

RAW MEAT! Vol. 2 (The Box)



01 Duke Ellington - C Jam Blues [the otherwise thorough "Songs The Bonzos Taught Us" compilation did not include this 1942 basis for the Bonzos' "The Intro and The Outro"]
02 Dudley Moore - Psychedelic Baby
03 Stackridge - Do the Stanley [a non-LP single, this one from 1973 - my fave tune from these eclectic Brits]
04 Erkey Grant & The Eerwigs - I Can't Get Enough Of You [wish I could find some info on the loonies who released this 45, their one and only record]
05 The Purple Gang - The Sheik [this band's singer wore a mask, and claimed to be an actual wizard]
06 Liverpool Scene - Bat Poem [poets poet-isizing over rock; this bunch somewhat transmogrified into the Scaffold:]
07 Scaffold - Lily the Pink [this big UK hit featured Paul McCartney's brother Mike McGear; was a cleaned-up version of a filthy old drinking song]
08 Les Sauterelles - Where Have All The Flowers Gone [a Swiss piss-take on Pete Seeger's folk hit]
09 Os Mutantes - Chao de Estrelas [yes, the Brazilian 'Tropicalia' legends]
10 The Deviants - Garbage [a college radio show I'd listen to in the '80s would play this; was mighty surprised to learn how old it was: from these British anarchists' 1967 debut]
11 Tritons - Rock Around The Clock [continuing our world tour with some Italians...]
12 Grobschnitt - Sahara [...and Germans...]
13 Giles,Giles & Fripp - The Saga Of Rodney Toady - Part 1 [precursor to King Crimson...hold up, Robert Fripp had a sense of humor?!]
14 Giles,Giles & Fripp - She Is Loaded
15 Brian Eno - Dead Finks Don't Talk [this one often gets tagged a Bryan Ferry satire, but I dunno, sounds a bit Viv Stanshell-ish to me]
16 Roxy Music - Hula Kula [this loopy mock-Hawaiian instro was a non-LP 1973 b-side written by Phil Manzanera]
17 Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias - Follow the Guru [the hippie's often-shallow infatuation with/appropriation of Indian culture was just begging to be satirized]
18 Doggerel Bank - Finale [more poetry rock, from '73]
19 Quicksilver Messenger Service - Happy Trails [another antique cover: 'singing cowboy' Roy Rogers' theme, recorded by these San Franciscans in '68]

"Dada for now..."

March Forth, 2015

By request, Phantascist is back on-line.

As today is March 4th, let's march forth once again with the Now Sounds of alternative marching/brass bands with a sampler of releases from recent years from bands that you won't see parading onto a sporting events field, or serenading politicians. A sterling example of 'antique-garde' music - new, experimental sounds using pre-rock, antique instruments and methods.

I don't know how mobile they all are. I did see Mucca Pazza live a year or two ago, so I can vouch for them- they went marching all over the place before they finally hit the stage.

March Forth 2015

1. 9th Ward Marching Band - Halloween Beat [covering John Carpenter, and a bit of Mike Oldfield]
2. 9th Ward Marching Band - Slowride [a couple of classic rock covers, from this krewe that features the king and queen of New Orleans high weirdness, Quintron and Miss Pussycat]
3. 9th Ward Marching Band - The Letter
4. Duk - Bilbo [from the excellent Bandcamp release "Early Worm Gets The Bird"]
5. Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - Moments [cover of Art of Noise's "Moments in Love"]
6. Hypnotic Brass Ensemble & Tony Allen - Marcus Garvey [w/Fela Kuti's master drummer Allen]
7. Mucca Pazza - Chick Habit [two songs from their super album "A Little Marching Band"; this wild take on the France Gall/April March classic features a rarity in this field: vocals]
8. Mucca Pazza - Dirge [doesn't get any less traditional than this: a creepy circus waltz for accordion and musical saw]
9. No BS! Brass Band - Take on Me [A Ha cover; always amazing to hear a great take on a song I'd never given the slightest thought to before]
10. Youngblood Brass Band - Human Nature, Pt. 2 [quite an improvement on Michael Jackson's original]
11. Youngblood Brass Band - Nate Mccarish Handbills For No Man [can't quite determine what strange sounds are featured here]

HELLavision

I could give some background on these videos...but why bother? They won't make any more sense if I did. So I'm just gonna hit you with three of the greatest, most incredibly WTF-iest things I've seen/heard lately. Prepare to question your sanity! 

#1: 



#2 (thanks to maniac Francis C for passing this one on to us): 

 

and, perhaps most disturbingly, #3: 

Frank Sidebottom Salutes The Magic Of Freddie Mercury And Queen

The late great surreal nutter in the giant paper mache head (and a puppet sidekick) sings here in his swimmer's clamp nasal tone and unfailingly good humor just what is says on the tin. He recorded a fair amount of stuff, and this EP is as good an intro as any. For those of you who saw the recent film "Frank" and wondered what the real man was all about...

Frank Sidebottom Salutes The Magic Of Freddie Mercury And Queen (1987)

1. Frank Gordon
2. Everybody Sings Queen
3. I Am The Champion
4. Radio Gaga
5. Save Me
6. We Will Rock You
7. The Bit I Missed Off The Queen Song On My Z39 EP
8. Queen Hip Hop Disco Mix

Spike Jones: 1941-1948

To make up for my lack of posts during my winter break, here is every single record Spike Jones and His City Slickers released in their first 7 years, 106 songs in all (split up into three sections). More radical than most academic avant-gardists, but a damn sight funnier,  bandleader/ drummer/ occasional vocalist / sound fx maker Jones and his numerous cronies weren't the first novelty orchestra (bands like the Korn Kobblers preceded them by a few years), but they did set the standard that musical anarchists have been striving for ever since.
  
As familiar as Jones is, it's still enlightening to listen to all these songs in chronological order, as one can hear the development of the band from a compact unit specializing in a kind of crazed Dixieland jazz, to an increasingly open-ended project, incorporating more and more musical styles, guest vocalists, and tracks that are more like sketches than songs. And tho I knew about their biggest hit single "Der Fuehrer's Face" (and the infamous "You're A Sap, Mister Jap"), I didn't realize how many WWII songs they did record. In "Leave the Dishes in the Sink, Ma", a song celebrating a sons' return home, the sense of relief that the war is finally ending is palpable.

As Spike used to deadpan after every song in concert: "Thank you, music lovers."

Spike Jones 1941-1948  pt1

1. Barstool Cowboy From Old Barstow

2. Behind Those Swinging Doors

3. Red Wing

4. The Covered Wagon Rolled Right Along

5. don`t talk to me about women  (1941)

6. Yankee doodler  (1942)

7. Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag

8. Three Little Words

9. When Buddah Smiles

10. You're A Sap Mister Jap

11. Never Hit Your Grandma With A Shovel

12. Horsey, Keep Your Tail Up

13. Camptown Races

14. John Scotter Trot

15. Love For Sale

16. Moanin' Low

17. Cheatin' On The Sandman

18. Come Josephine In My Flying Machine

19. The Sailor With The Navy Blue Eyes

20. Der Fuehrer's Face

21. Hotcha Cornia (Hotcha Chornya-Russian Folk Songs)

22. I Wanna Go Back To West Virginia

23. Water Lou (Drip, Drip, Drip) 24. Clink, Clink, Another Drink 25. Little Bo-Peep Has Lost Her Jeep 026 - Dinah  (1942) 027 - 48 reasons why  (1942)

28. The Sheik Of Araby

29. Oh! By Jingo

30. I'm Going To Write Home

31. Hi Ho My Lady

32. I Know A Story

33. St-St-St-Stella

34. Hotcha Cornia (Hotcha Chornya-Russian Folk Songs)

35. Down In Jungle Town

Spike Jones 1941-1948  pt2

36. As Time Goes By

37. People Will Say We're In Love

38. G.I. Haircut 039 - hitch old dobbin to the shay again  (1943)

40. It Never Rains In Sunny California

41. Wang Wang Blues

42. My Little Girl

43. The Sound Effects Man

44. Ragtime Cowboy Joe

45. The Vamp

46. He Broke My Heart In Three Places

47. Besame Mucho

48. I'm Goin' Back To Where I Came From

49. There's A Fly On My Music

50. Row, Row, Row

51. I Wanna A Gal Just Like The Gal That Married Dear Old Dad

52. Jingle Bells

53. Cocktails For Two 054 - they go wild, simply wild about me  (1944)

55. And The Great Big Saw Came Nearer And Nearer 056 - paddlin` madeline home  (1944) 057 - oh! how she lied  (1944)

58. Red Grow The Roses

59. Jamboree Jones

60. Whittle Out A Whistle

61. Casey Jones

62. At Last I'm In First With You

63. Down By The O-Hi-O

64. Holiday For Strings

65. Cocktails For Two

66. Leave The Dishes In The Sink, Ma

67. Serenade To A Jerk

68. Drip, Drip, Drip (Sloppy Lagoon)

69. Chloe

70. The Blue Danube

71. Black Bottom

72. Toot Toot Tootsie, Goodbye

Spike Jones 1941-1948  pt3

73. MacNamara's Band

74. Siam

75. Liebestraume

76. You'll Always Hurt The One You Love

77. That Old Black Magic

78. Mother Goose Medley

79. Hawaiian War Chant 080 - i gotta girl i love (in north and south dakota)  (1945) 081 - hedda hopper`s hats  (1945) 082 - george m. cohan medley  (1945)

83. Old McDonald Had A Farm

84. I Dream Of Brownie In The Light Blue Jeans

85. The Glow Worm

86. Laura

87. Jones Polka

88. The Jones Laughing Record 89. My Pretty Girl 90. Rhapsody From Hunger (Y) 91. I'm In The Mood For Love 92. When Yuba Plays The Rhumba On The Tuba 93. (I'm Forever) Blowing Bubble Gum

94. William Tell Overture

95.  Love In Bloom

96. The Man On The Flying Trapeze

97. Popcorn Sack

98. Our Hour (The Puppy Love Song)

99. My Old Flame

100. People Are Funnier Than Anybody

101. By The Beautiful Sea

102. I'm Getting Sentimental Over You

103. I Kiss Your Hand Madame

104. All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)

105. Ill Barkio (Il Bacio)

106. None But The Lonely Heart (A Soaperetta)

The Sicodelico Sounds of Peru's LOS HOLY'S

Seeing as how Latin America's Day of The Dead festivities begin today and go thru Nov. 2, now's the perfect time to rock out to these juvenile delinquents from, of all places, Lima, Peru. Trashy surf/garage sounds from the 1960s, all instrumental reverb and fuzz guitars and sleazy electric organ, with one song ("Holy's Psicodelicos") even featuring a theremin. "Campo De Vampiros" is the appropriate party-starter by these Dia de Los Muertos daddy-o's.  

I would be interested to know how Los Holy's (sic) fit into Peruvian culture of the time. Were they considered makers of no-good teen trash by the mainstream culture, but revered as cool cats by the kids?  Or was this stuff so foreign to their society that they were playing a kind of 'world music,' without any of the controversy that this kind of primitive rock created north of the border?


Los Holys "Sueno Sicodelico" (1967)

1. Campo De Vampiros
2. Sueno Sicodelico
3. Melodia Encantada
4. Reunion Psicodelica [a cover of the Markett's Space-Age surf classic "Out of Limits"]
5. Piedra De Doce Angulos
6. Hawaii Five-O
7. El Hombre Desnudo
8. Holy's Psicodelicos
9. The High Chaparral [cover of the '50s movie theme "Moulin Rouge"]
10. Psicodelico Desconocido  [cover of the Meters' funky soul groover "Sissy Strut"]
11. Spectro I
12. Choque De Vientos


(Muchas gracias to El Count Otto Negro!)

The Roto Rooter Good Time Christmas Band

"Bernie Green plays More Than You Can Stand In Hi Fi" is back on line.

This cheerfully eccentric band of refugees from the UCLA jazz program made just this one  1974 album, perhaps never fully realizing their potential.  Their role models, Spike Jones and His City Slickers, and the Bonzo Dog Band, were only just getting warmed up on their first releases. Tho they suffer a bit from the "we're so wacky!!" affliction, there are far too few musical anarchists like this who have the chops to play jazz and classical but make the noble decision to throw away all artistic 'credibility' in the name of eclecticism and absurdist humor. And the Roto Rooters were def on the right track, showing a healthy irreverence towards classic rock ("Purple Haze") and classic classics ("The Sabre Dance"), covering campy oldies like Shirley Temple's "On The Good Ship Lollipop" and singing cowboy Roy Roger's signature sign-off song "Happy Trails." (Supposedly Van Halen got the idea to end their shows with "Happy Trails" from these guys.) For some reason folkie label Vanguard Records put this one out. Granted, they also released Perrey & Kingsley's Space Age Moog-sterpieces, but still, a strange choice, and perhaps no surprise that this album sold about 12 copies before dropping off the planet.  (My recently-purchased copy was still in the shrink-wrap!) 

 If we extend the definition of the pre-punk L.A. 'Freak Scene' beyond Zappa's immediate circle of outsiders and oddballs (Wild Man Fischer, Cap. Beefheart, The GTO's, etc). we'll find plenty of like-minded loonies that followed in their wake, inc. The Los Angeles Free Music Society, the art/music axis of Mike Kelley/Jim Shaw/Destroy All Monsters, radio host/music archivist Dr. Demento, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, Zoogz Rift, the Rhino Records label, and these chaps. What the 'freaks' had in common was a rejection of the SanFran 'hippie' attitude, a love of old-timey musics, jazz /improvisation and avant-classical, and a whacked-out sense of humor. They may have liked some psych rock, but had no interest in being 'mellow', they were in-your-face cynical smart-asses. Raised on 'Mad' magazine, they were among the first to realize that the 20th century had already produced a huge slew of ignored pop-cultural waste - monster movies, thrift-store records, bad TV - just waiting to be creatively recycled. 'Avant-tarde,' decades before that phrase was coined. Jazz music had just died after the glorious supernova of electric Miles, H. Hancock, etc, and had quickly settled into it's current bland 'smooth-jazz' zombie-fied afterlife, rock had not yet experienced the punk Big Bang that would create a viable DIY culture, and the classical avant-garde was snugly tucked into it's academic ivory tower. There wasn't much 'alternative' culture at the time - you had to swim in the mainstream, or quickly sink into obscurity. And much of the above-mentioned stuff was indeed pretty obscure. Even the 'famous' names like Captain Beefheart never rose above the club/mid-size venue level, and certainly never came near the Top 40.

But there was one glimmer of independence - the afore-mentioned Dr. Demento show. A Sunday night radio show from LA specializing in comedy/novelty records that became a fixture on virtually every American FM rock station, "The Dr. Demento Show" was geared towards youngsters, and admittedly featured plenty of sophomoric yuks. But it was also a free-form free-wheeling forum for strange and forgotten sounds of any era or genre, from old 78s to unsolicited demos. Barry Hansen (Dr. D.) would actually listen to anything that hit his mailbox. The RRGCB sent in one such tape and became the first of his discoveries, quickly becoming the house band for the show. Their version of a Dr. D. hit, the great Big Band oddity "Pico and Sepulveda" (included on this album) became the program's theme song. They also provided incidental music for the show, such as the weekly top ten/Funny Five jingles. For lots of videos (inc. an otherwise unwaxed cover of "Jollity Farm") check out their

inactive blog

inactive Facebook 

And they don't play any Christmas songs.

The Roto Rooter Good Time Christmas Band

A1	Fanfare/Buick LeSabre Dance
A2	Martian March
A3	On The Good Ship Lollipop
A4	Hungarian Dance No. 5
A5	South Of The Border
A6	Love Me
A7	Pico & Sepulveda
A8	The Band Played On (And On)
B1	Swamp Lake
B2	Purple Haze
B3	The Beer Bottle Polka
B4	Marianne
B5	Overture & The Rite Of Spring
B6	Happy Trails To You/March Of The Cuckoos

Ultimate Ultimate Xanadu

Not just the ultimate Xanadu collection. No way, we leave that to other, poorer blogs. We've got the Ultimate Ultimate Xanadu collection. Two disks worth of covers of songs and documentary snippets relating to a film I've never seen. But since the wiki entry on it says that it was the inspiration for "the Golden Raspberry Awards to memorialize the worst films of the year", then maybe I should see it. Apparently there's a sizeable cult for this 1980 "romantic musical fantasy film" - these 2 disks are boiled down from a 20-disk fan collection.
 
Tho it's heavy on the electro-disco and ELO outtakes/rarities, there is still a variety of sounds here. Particular faves: Klaus Wunderlich's disco organ instrumental (in my world, '70s discos don't have DJs spinning the BeeGees, they have old guys playing the organ); what sounds like an inept school or amateur theater cast (disk 2, track 4); a Japanese pop-punk girl band called Tiger Shovel Nose; Hemes House Band (and I usually hate house music); and a "bossa-nova toy pop" version of the title song. Tho I suspect I'd like a bossa-nova toy pop version of anything. Brazilian band La Sound even covered the entire soundtrack (?!), tho we get just one song from it here (disk 1 track 16), a nifty lounge finger-snapper. 

This plethora of Xanadu-nocity comes to us courtesy of Don-O, the man behind the Hour of Crap podcast, the Twilight World 'zine, and many other useful pursuits. This was originally a project of his Xanadu fan site, in which he whittled down the collection of Robert Porter, who ran a Jeff Lynne fan site. Lynn is of course the man behind the Electric Light Orchestra, who provided much of the music for "Xanadu."

Didn't think I would like this much, but the unrelenting, irresistible perkiness of the damn thing wore down my resistance, and I was happily bopping around to all this nonsense. Drive yourself and everyone around you crazy with lots and lots of versions of an Olivia Newton-John disco showtune! "A place where nobody dared to go":

Ultimate Ultimate Xanadu disk 1

Ultimate Ultimate Xanadu disk 2

Thanks to Don and the Xanadu Preservation Society.

COVER THE EARTH Vol. 5

When will it end?!  Still more bizarre international ethnic versions of Western pop hits. And by 'ethnic' I also mean American and European styles like bluegrass (# 6) and polka. Also: several Trinidad steel drum tracks (# 1, 9, and 18); the Moog hit "Popcorn" played as a South American chicha; Guns'n'Roses go cumbia; The Buggles go Bollywood; a jazz classic performed on sitars and tablas. And wasn't Bob Marley a lot more fun in the '60s, when he was covering the Archies?

COVER THE EARTH Vol. 5

1. Amral's Trinidad Cavaliers - The World is A Ghetto
2. Arsenio Rodriguez & the Afro Cuban Sound - Hang on Sloopy
3. Bappi Lahiri - Auva Auva ("Video Killed The Radio Star"/India)
4. Bob Marley - Sugar Sugar
5. Brave Combo - Double Vision cha cha
6. Bruce Hornsby-Ricky Skaggs - Superfreak
7. Cachicamo con Caspa y Leiko el perro de la IIIII dimension -Sweet Child o' Mine (Venezuela)
8. Chang Loo - Jambalaya (Hank Williams/China)
9. Esso Steelband - I Want You Back 
10. Jimmy Sturr - Splish Splash polka
11. Kiyohiko Senba and his Haniwa All Stars - Kono Mune no Tokimeki o  ("You Don't Have To Say You Love Me")
12. Lelu Thaert - Dance Soul (Booker T & The MGs "Hip Hug Her"/Cambodia)
13. Lennie Hibbert - Nature Boy ("It Was A Very Good Year"/Jamaica)
14. Los Tropicanos - My Sweet Lord (Brasil)
15. Petty Booka - Girls Just Want to Have Fun (Japan/Ja-waiin)
16. Chicha Libre - Popcorn Andino (Gershon Kingsley's "Popcorn"/Peru-USA)
17. Sachal Studios Orchestra - Take Five (Dave Brubeck/Pakistan)
18. Sapodilla Punch - Hold on I'm Coming
19. The Polka Floyd Show - Another Brick in the Wall

In case you missed 'em:
Vol. 1
Vol. 2
Vol. 3
Vol. 4

The Note-Ables: Worst Lounge Band Ever?

Back up by request: "Halloween Stomp."

The recent post re: Banda Plástica De Tepetlixpa Mex. reminded me of another wonderful exercise in musical incompetence, the most hapless lounge band I've ever heard..ladies and gentlemen, please welcome...The Note-Ables!

Maybe they should have been called the Note-Unables: sporting off-beat (in the original sense) drumming, mangled lyrics, goofy vocals, the occasional sick trumpet, and guitars so out-of-tune they're practically "No Wave," one has to wonder if these guys were deaf. I originally featured one song, their remarkable demolition of Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven" on my collection of private-press lounge wonders "I'll Take Las Vegas," and tho it's still the, uh, "highlight" of this album, there's plenty more goodies here: Neil Sedaka/Elton John's "Bad Blood," Glen Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy," and lots of Beatles. They have no feel for rock'n'roll, so naturally, there's plenty of it. Only the last couple songs, standards where horn and accordion take over, do they sound like they're in comfortable (tho no less incompetent) territory.

But you gotta love these guys - they sound like they're having a great time. Everyone's drunk and having a party, and the accordion is the coolest, most rock 'n' roll instrument in their world. Out-of-control naive exuberant joy is infinitely superior to such dull standards as technical skill and recording quality, right?

The Note-Ables: "Flipside" [USA, 1974]


1. Bad Blood
2. I Saw Her Standing There
3. She Loves You
4. Loves Not Always Kind
5. Sun Flower
6. Rhinestone Cowboy
7. Roll Over Beethoven
8. Way Down
9. Lost And Found
10. Can't Buy Me Love
11. So What's New
12. Bye Bye Blues - Baby Face

Tracks 4, 9, and 11 are originals.
Sadly, no biographical info out there. Have no idea where they're from.
Don't remember where I got this, but this isn't my copy - I believe the late, great Bellybongo site first posted it. So thanks to whoever!

ADIOS A LOS BEATLES

There is no more glorious sound for jaded ears than this rural Mexican brass band blowing berserk, off-key, highly enthusiastic instrumental versions of Beatles songs. Even the dreaded "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" sounds great as a crazy carnival theme. Sadly, nothing is known about the band responsible for this genuine piece of folk-art madness other than that they were from, as their name would indicate, Tepetlixpa.  

The lack of info almost makes me wonder if this isn't a hoax. Consider the name Banda Plástica De Tepetlixpa Mex.: a reference to Plastic Ono Band? And the back cover tells a preposterous story of Lennon and McCartney visiting Tepetlixpa. But there is still plenty of information that has not been captured in the internet's nets, and these guys could very well have simply never been documented in their time. Tepetlixpa, after all, is a pretty obscure little village, warranting only a few sentences on their skimpy wiki page...if they really were from Tepetlixpa. I've heard no indications that this is a hoax, but even if it is, it's still as enjoyable as The Portsmouth Sinfonia, or Fritz Guckenheimer and his Sour Kraut Band.

We're Banda Plástica De Tepetlixpa Mex.
We hope you will enjoy the show:  

"ADIOS A LOS BEATLES"

01 Ob-La-Di, Ob La Da

02 I Want To Hold Your Hand

03 Carry That Weight

04 Yesterday 

05 Eleanor Rigby

06 Yellow Submarine

07 Hey Jude

08 Girl

09 I Should Have Known Better

10 A Hard Days Night

Les Dauphins: Just Another French/Algerian '60s Rock Band

One of the first French-language rock groups was this intensely obscure band with a near-unsearcheable name.  Look up "Les Dauphins" and you'll get lots of French sites about actual dolphins. I did find one site in Russian that offered this brief blurb:
"Dolphins" - a group of French Algerian port city of Oran (Oran). Created brothers Gerard and Robert Shatelenami together with Alain Martin, Andre Castro and Gilbert Hullo. Existed in the years 1964-1966, longpleya not released, was 4 EP's, released via Columbia ... Almost all of the band's work has been collected in 1993 on this compilation. Vocals - exclusively in French." Thank you, Google Translate!

It's another curio from the days when non-Anglo-American cultures were grappling with the rock 'n' roll behemoth that had just washed up on their shores, and were struggling to find a way to integrate it into their culture. At least these guys didn't try to sing in English. But French just isn't a rock 'n' roll language, even when sung Elvis-style. Tho on one of the best songs here, the Isley Brothers-esque "Ne Pars Pas," they do sing the word 'baby' a lot.

It's all a lot of twistin', rockin' fun, with some recognizable covers strewn amidst the originals, e.g.: "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," and the Gene Pitney/Ricky Nelson hit "Hello Mary Lou." "Le Voyageur" is Nelson's "Travelin Man." Highlights include the early-Beatles-ish "L'Amour Nous Dira Oui," the wtf? harpsichord solo on "Celle Qu'il Me Fallait," "Non, Ne Me Dis Pas" (fuzz garage rocker) and, my fave, "Serrons-Nous La Main."

A big merci to Count Otto Black!

Les Dauphins "Tout, Tout, Tout"
 
01. Baby, Pleure Pas (1964)
02. Hello Mary Lou (1964)
03. Après La Pluie (1964)
04. Tu Brises Mon Cœur (1964)
05. Le Voyageur (1964)
06. L'Amour Nous Dira Oui (1964)
07. Celle Qu'il Me Fallait (1964)
08. Ne Pars Pas (1964)
09. C'est Pour Demain (1964)
10. Pas Aujourd'hui (1964)
11. Je Ne Peux L'oublier (1964)
12. Je Ne Veux Pas (1965)
13. Tout, Tout, Tout (1965)
14. Petite Fille (1965)
15. Ça Serait Trop Beau (1965)
16. Tu Marches Et Tu Pleures (1965)
17. Je T'Écris Ce Mot (1965)
18. Avant De La Rencontrer (1965)
19. Il Y A Tant De Chemins (1965)
20. Non, Ne Me Dis Pas (1966)
21. Va T'En Maintenant (1966)
22. Priez Pour Moi (1966)
23. Serrons-Nous La Main (1966)
24. Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On (1964) 

Personnel:
- Gérard Chatelain - lead vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica
- Robert Chatelain - bass, piano, guitar
- Alain Martin - lead guitar
- André Castro - rhythm guitar, percussion
- Gilbert Gullaud - drums


 

Happy 80th Birthday, Bob: MOOG BREAKBEATS 2014

Tomorrow, May 23rd, would have been Robert Moog's 80th birthday. When Mr. Synthesizer died in 2005, I quickly went thru my '60s/'70s Moog-sploitation vinyl and started slapping platters on the turntable, digitizing all the songs with the ill-est drum breaks and the most head-nodding beatz. For a while I'd been thinking about putting together such a mixtape, but Bob's death prompted me to finally do so as a tribute. It proved to be pretty popular, getting mentioned in some prominent music websites. I even heard 8 tracks from it in a row when I just happened to be listening to the radio one night. Of course, I had to call up the station and say: hey, I'm that guy! So here's a new edition, with some slight track changes, and higher bit rates.

Not included: the most famous/sampled Moog funk song, Jean-Jacques Perrey's 'E.V.A.', as it is in print, and I have decided to focus on OOP rarities taken from vinyl. Hard to believe that most of these classics have never been digitally re-issued. So let's blast off! And thanks again, Bob.

MOOG BREAKBEATS 2014

00 Gershon Kingsley's First Moog Quartet - Shank [pre-Kraftwerk live Moog band; song inspired by Isaac Hayes' "Shaft" theme]
01 Electronic Concept Orchestra - Grazin In The Grass
02 Walter Sear - Love Child
03 Enoch Light - Pass and I'll Call You
04 Herbie Mann - Pick Up The Pieces
05 The Moog Machine - Jumpin Jack Flash
06 Jerry Styner and Larry Brown - Orbit III
07 John Murtaugh - Slinky [w/Herbie Hancock on piano]
08 Les Baxter - Rachmaninoff: Prelude in c# Minor [the song The Beastie Boys sampled for "Intergalactic"]
09 Robert Byrne - Donna
10 Zeet Band - Gimme 5 Cents Worth Of Love
11 Dick Hyman - Give It Up Or Turn It Loose [James Brown cover]
12 Claude Denjean - Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye
13 Enoch Light - Sittin On The Dock of the Bay
14 Hugo Montenegro - Yo Yo
15 Sounds Galactic - Spinning Wheel
16 The John Keating Space Experience - Solitaire
(dubious bonus track: a perhaps not-so-funky, utterly ridiculous bit of 'tard-tronica)

PRAISE THE LORDS: 3 ALBUMS OF GERMAN BEAT/PSYCH

Recently we posted an album by "The Rattles," a curious early German take on rock-n-roll. The Lords were another band from the '60s pre-Krautrock era, very famous and successful in their homeland, but more likely to rise eyebrows and cause mutterings of "WTF..?" from elsewhere. Their English lyrics in particular are, er, interesting. And how 'bout those fashion-challenged album covers?

"Some Folks By The Lords" (1967) is largely a collection of covers, many of them strangely inappropriate for an alleged rock band to be performing. Perhaps they and/or their audience simply didn't know enough about American music to make genre distinctions. Or maybe they were geniuses who realized it didn't matter: "Miss Otis Regrets" may be a Cole Porter showtune, but it's still a great song.  Much of it, like "East Virginia" and "Sing Hallelujah," are inspired by 'down-home' folk and gospel. "San Miguel" is sung in a ludicrous Spanish accent on top of their usual sometimes-thick German accent. And I must admit: "Greensleeves" made me giggle.

"Ulleogamaxbe" (1969): No more fake-folk Americana covers - it's fake UK psych this time. Tho it's two years after the fact, they finally betray a 'Sgt Pepper' (or at least a BeeGees) influence, what with all the strings, horns, and "poetic" ambition. After six songs of this, we get an unexpected proto-metal garage fuzz blast in the excellently apocalyptic "The World Is Falling Down". The frantic "Fire" could be a Roger Corman exploitation film theme song. Musically, "Poor Chin-Lee" is a Pet Sound-alike; vocally and lyrically, however, not even Brian Wilson was this weird. On "Cut My Hair" they "get back" to basic rock n roll, tho I don't recall Little Richard ever penning lyrics that detail instructions to his barber. The bonus single "John Brown's Body" goes back to the American folk/gospel of the first album, but now with added flutes and intrusive sound-collage elements. And it's b-side is a cover of Eddie Cochran's "Somethin' Else" that out-punks the Sid Vicious version of a decade later. Apparently, these guys will do any style at least once, and do it strangely. Does anyone have any idea what that album title means?

"Shakin' All Over '70" is a bit of a hodge-podge, with a few tracks repeated from "Ulleogamaxbe." The title track recasts the rockbilly swinger into a "heavy" acid-rock-with horns biker stomper. "Feeling Chicago" is a response to modern bad-man ballads like "Rocky Racoon" or "Bad Bad Leroy Brown." "Four O'Clock In New York" is a swell bit of Bay City Rollers-ish bubblegum, while the chicken-squawking "Talk About Love" from 1970 might be the most ridiculous thing these guys did, and that's saying something. Needless to say, it's one of my favorites. 

Elsewhere, the flower-power sounds continue as if it were still the Summer of Love. The fact that they cover not one but two songs from the "Hair" soundtrack suggest that they either never really understood what rock'n'roll was all about, or they were just went straight for mainstream commercialism. I actually love "Hair," but it's purely musical theater, hippie culture depoliticized and sensationalized for tourists. In any case, it's pretty awesome to hear 'em try to wrap their accents around the wordy nugget, "Manchester England." 


A big danke to Count Otto Black!