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- The Jimmy Castor Bunch "Phase Two" 1972 (USA)
- Jimmy
Castor passed away on January 17 at age 72. He was a phenomenal
talent who had a few novelty hits, but is mostly underappreciated
(outside of the hiphop community, where his beats and breaks have been
long admired). Jimmy made his first record at age 16, then
replaced his friend Frankie Lymon as the lead singer for The Teenagers
in 1957, and also played saxophone on instrumental hits by Davy Cortez
in the early 1960's. But that was just the prologue! He
first cracked the Top 40 in 1966 with "Hey Leroy, Your Mama's Callin'
You", on one level a novelty song based on a playground chant, but also
one of the first "latin rock" hits featuring Jimmy playing his other
main instrument, the timbales (he was of Puerto Rican descent).
In the 1970's, he stepped up his game even further when he put together
his group The Jimmy Castor Bunch and released a series of eclectic
progressive-soul/funk/disco albums, which included a number of major
R&B hits (usually ridiculous dance songs like "The Bertha Butt
Boogie" and "King Kong", but also unsung futuristic funk nuggets like
"Potential" and "Space Age"). Phase Two was the second release by The Bunch, and very much follows the pattern set by its predecessor.
- Here's Jimmy and his Bunch performing their biggest hit, the Top 10 novelty funk sensation "Troglodyte", and a medley of Jimmy's first hit from 1966 "Hey Leroy", and the sequel "Say Leroy (The Creature From The Black Lagoon Is Your Father)" which can be found on Phase Two. The world of Soul music lost another giant this week: Don Cornelius, the creator and host of the iconic TV show Soul Train,
which probably did more to change the face of American Dance over the
last 50 years than any other institution. So here's a few more
artists featured on the show this week performing on Soul Train: The Isley Brothers, Kool & The Gang, Curtis Mayfield, and of course the GFOS: James Brown. Plus lots of amazing dancing!
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- Nico "Chelsea Girl" 1967 (Germany/USA)
- There was a documentary film from the 1980's called Nico Icon,
and truly she was one of the most iconic and unique figures in pop
music history. Most of her oeuvre consists of droney chamber folk
framing her incredibly icy, sad voice -- there really was nothing like
it before, and has been little like it since. Mostly remembered
for her brief tenure with the Velvet Underground (though she sang a
mere three songs on their debut album), Nico recorded only five studio
albums in her lifetime, all of which were resolutely underground art
statements that never came anywhere near commercial success. The
first of these was the criminally overlooked Chelsea Girl,
recorded immediately after the Velvet Underground's debut, and
featuring Lou Reed, John Cale and Sterling Morrison from that band
along with Nico's current love interest: a 19 year old Jackson
Browne! Tim Hardin and Bob Dylan(!) also contributed tunes
specifically for Nico to sing, and the baroque production was handled
by unsung legend Tom Wilson (the man who invented "Folk Rock" in 1965,
among other things). Although when Nico first heard this album,
she wept hysterically! She had wanted more rock instrumentation,
and barfed at the strings and flutes. Yet decades later, this
album stands with the work of Scott Walker as some of the best and most
iconoclastic non-rock music of the 1960's. Nico (born Christa Paeffgen) died in a bicycling accident in 1988.
- Here's clips from the early 1980's with Nico singing the title track from this album "Chelsea Girls"
(live from the Chelsea Hotel!) and performing a song from
her second solo album, "No One Is There". There aren't many clips of Nico
from earlier days, but here she is singing the Velvet Underground oldie "Femme Fatale"
at a 1972 reunion performance with Lou Reed and John Cale.
Before coming to America, she also made a few obscure recordings in
Europe in the early 1960's, including this charming track with Serge Gainsbourg.
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- Yes "Relayer" 1974 (UK)
- Yes
is probablythe most popular and best-selling "progressive rock" band of
all time (and a version of the band is still at it today, having just
released a new album in 2011). The group was born at the end of
the 1960's and differentiated themselves from their peers at the time
mainly by being better musicians and writing more complicated music
than anyone else. A penchant for psuedo-philosophy, an
extravagant stage show and mysterious scifi album covers sealed the
deal. I think Relayer
is one of their best albums, though it's status in the canon seems to
be a polarizing topic within the Yes fan community (the criticism is
usually that it is "too jazzy", which is probably why I like it so
much!) This was the only Yes album to feature Swiss keyboardist
Patrick Moraz (replacing the famous Rick Wakeman who later returned to
the band), who may be responsible for their slightly unusual direction
on this record.
- Here's a good early clip of Yes at the end of the 1960's: "Looking Around".
The popularity of British Prog Rock soon exploded, and Yes blew away
the competition with their frenzied virtuosity and glittering capes on
epics such as "Yours Is No Disgrace" and "Close To The Edge". Another legendary UK group from that era we're featuring on the show this week is Pink Floyd, whose classic album Wish You Were Here has just been reissued with many bonus tracks including a live version of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". Also, Paul Stanley celebrates his 60th birthday this week, so enjoy the explosive rawknrolll spectacle that is KISS!
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- SRC "SRC" 1968 (USA)
- SRC was one of the top Detroit area bands of the late 1960's, and truly one
of the most progressive psychedelic bands in America at that time. Their
initials originally stood for "The Scot Richard Case" in honor of their
lead vocalist Scott Richardson, though the band was led by guitar &
keyboard playing brothers Gary and Glenn Quackenbush. Just as so-called "Detroit" legends MC5 and The Stooges were
actually based in the sleepy college town of Ann Arbor, SRC was founded in
nearby Ypsilanti by dropouts from Eastern Michigan University. The band was
capable of wild guitar rock in the grand Detroit tradition, but also
featured lots of electric organ and they adapted classical music into
their sound (psychedelic versions of Ravel's "Bolero" and Grieg's
"Morning Mood" make SRC sound like Procol Harum's transatlantic counsins at times).
They released three albums but failed to make much headway in their
homeland (aside from numerous appearances opening for more famous bands
on tour in Michigan), though they were apparently a popular cult band
in the UK (Genesis lead singer Peter Gabriel claims to have played
their eponymous debut album so much he wore out the grooves -- and
indeed, SRC's churchy/proggy vibe seems like it may have been a key
influence on Genesis).
- There isn't very much footage of the original SRC live, but here's a classic SRC deeetroit rocker, "Up All Night" (a burner from their second album Milestones) and a clip from a recent SRC reunion show. Of course the most revered Detroit area bands of the late sixties were the MC5 (also with a 3-character abbreviation for a name) and The Stooges,
whose leader James Newell Osterberg grew up to become the world famous
Iggy Pop. We're also celebrating the birthday of Don Van Vliet
this week, the artist better known as Captain Beefheart (this lineup of his Magic Band also includes three ex-Mothers of Invention: Art Tripp, Elliot Ingber and Roy Estrada).
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- Peaking Lights "936" 2011 (USA)
- The
first Classic Album of the Week this year is (as always) my pick for
the best album of the year just past. 2011 was another diverse
year for music, with no unifying trends, no clear masterpiece albums,
but a whole lot of interesting stuff going on in different corners of
the culture if you know where to look. Peaking Lights is the
junkshop psychedelic dubrock duo of Aaron Coyes and Indra Dunis,
founded in California earlier this decade but based in Madison, WI for
the past several years (Indra & Aaron have also recorded under the
name Rahdunes). 936 is
PL's first music to be released on CD (previous releases were always
analog LP's or cassettes!), and in this DJ's humble opinion this album
has elevated them to the first rank of the
"hypnagogic-chillwave-whatever you call it" scene. Not Not Fun
has been my favorite label for a few years, and this is one of the top
two or three records they have put out so far. Of all the records I heard this year, this one created the most original and immersive soundworld.
- Peaking Lights made a video for a track from this album, "Hey Sparrow" and here's an interesting documentary on their circuit bending ways.
Another top release this year (#2 on the Kosmik Radiation charts) was Totem Three by Master Musicians of Bukkake. One of the highlights of my year was seeing and interviewing Lumerians and White Hills at Austin Psych Fest down in Texas. On the garage rock side of things, The Black Lips put out one of their strongest albums yet, and Thee Oh Sees put out two fine (and very different) new albums. The top "oldies" acts of the year have to be prog rock legends Van der Graaf Generator, who just put out their best album since the 1970's, and legendary bassist Mike Watt whose latest Hieronymous Bosch-inspired "punk rock opera" hyphenated-man is the best thing he's done since the 1980's.
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- Camper Van Beethoven "Camper Van Beethoven" 1986 (USA)
- Camper
Van Beethoven was a unique group from the "eighties American Indie Rock
boom" -- of all the bands from that scene, they had the least to do
with "punk rock" and were among the most faithful reinterpreters of
60's and 70's "classic rock." They jammed a lot (with a high
degree of musicianship), played "fake ethnic music" (Middle Eastern,
Ska, Gypsy, you name it) and even included a violin player in the band
-- sticking out in a scene dominated by guitar-centric rockers like The
Pixies, Replacements, Minutemen, etc. This, their third
self-titled album, is one of their best -- and arguably the most
psychedelic, climaxing in a jam on Pink Floyd's "Interstellar
Overdrive" (though their remake of the Fleetwood Mac album Tusk is exceedingly strange, and their collaborations with Eugene Chadbourne are also very far out!)
- CVB's first proper music video was recorded for a song from this album, "Good Guys & Bad Guys". But the first song that got them attention was "Take The Skinheads Bowling"
from their debut album. They were one of the first "indie" bands
to sign to a major label in the later 1980's, resulting in non-hits
like "Eye of Fatima" and an unnecessary remake of Status Quo's "Pictures of Matchstick Men".
However the band broke up before Nirvana and the grunge scene came
along, thus missing their shot at mainstream popularity (though lead
singer David Lowery did alright with his subsequent band
Cracker). Fortunately, they have regrouped in the last decade and
continue to tour and record music -- they'll be in town at the High
Noon Saloon next week, and are currently working on what will be their
third new post-reunion album (coming out in 2012 perhaps?)
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- The Moody Blues "On The Threshold Of A Dream" 1969 (UK)
- The
Moody Blues were a hugely popular group from the classic rock era whose
work is not so well-regarded in the 21st century. Though styles
may have changed, their unique blend of melancholy English pop, vague
mysticism and "philosophy", poetry recitations, orchestras and
mellotrons delivered via concept albums with mysterious album covers
are what "classic rock" is really all about. Threshold
was the third of a run of seven albums released 1967-72 which are the
core of the group's best work. All of these albums can be found
dirt cheap in any used record store (your best bargain bin bets along
with the discarded works of Emerson Lake & Palmer!)
- The most well known song from this album is probably "Lovely To See You"
(written by Justin Hayward, as were most of the group's hits).
The Moody's most famous song of all is the orchestral ballad "Nights In White Satin", which was released in 1967 but didn't top the charts until 1972 -- "Tuesday Afternoon" was the song from that album which was the bigger hit at the time. "Ride My See Saw"
is perhaps the most rockin' MB hit, and features one of their notorious
"poetry" interludes. Another of their biggest hits was the
Vietnam War-inspired "Question". The
band has been fairly active in recent years, and even recorded an album
of holiday-themed songs in 2004! Here's a seasonal original from
that album called "The Spirit Of Christmas".
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- Frank Zappa "Läther" mostly rec. 1972-77, rel. 1996 (USA)
- It's
time for our annual birthday salute to Frank Zappa, and so our classic
album this week is one of Zappa's greatest works. He made several
attempts during his lifetime to release a long-form epic, beginning
with an unreleased 10-record box set of 1960's Mothers of Invention
recordings, but the only time he succeeded before he passed away was
when he released the mammoth 12-CD You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore series. Läther
was another attempt at a long form work, originally conceived as
a 5-LP set to be released in 1977. However, Zappa was in the
midst of a fight with his record label at the time, and so instead this
material was originally released on the albums Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt, Orchestral Favorites and the bowdlerized double-live Zappa In New York. (At the height of his battles with Warner Brothers, Frank also played the master tapes of the entire original Läther
configuration on an L.A. radio station, which means it has also been
available as a bootleg since the 1970's). Before he died in 1993,
Frank prepared a revised edition of Läther which was released posthumously as a 3-CD set in 1996.
- Here's a 22 year old Zappa on the Steve Allen Show demonstrating how to use a bicycle as a musical instrument. Next, one of the greatest groups of the 1960's: The (original) Mothers of Invention, as well as another great Mothers lineup from the mid-70's. Zappa's first love was always classical music; here is Frank conducting the Ensemble Modern (accompanied by a "ballet"). In recent years his son Dweezil has been leading a repertoiry group called Zappa Plays Zappa to keep his father's music alive.
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- BeBop Deluxe "Modern Music" 1976 (UK)
- BeBop
Deluxe was a band that defied easy categorization -- they were born in
the age of glam rock, but always had a distinctly progressive
bent. By the mid-70's the band was sporting short haircuts and
neckties in defiance of mid-70's fashion trends for rock stars, and
their last batch of albums seem to prefigure the coming "new wave"
movement. Which is to say, BeBop was a band ahead of its time (a
lot of their late 70's songs sound like they could have been early 80's
hits). The main brain behind BBD was always the guitar virtuouso
Bill Nelson, a figure who has been compared to the likes of Hendrix,
Eno and Zappa. Modern Music was the band's 4th of five studio albums, and it's tempting to call it their most futuristic album, except they all are!
- Here's a cheesy fan video for the "Modern Music" suite which is the centerpiece of this album. I think BeBop's catchiest song ever was "Panic In The World" from their final album Drastic Plastic of 1978 (but doesn't it sounds "totally eighties"?) More classic rockers from their oeuvre include "Fair Exchange" and "Blazing Apostles", which often led to 10 more minutes of jamming in concert.
After Bebop broke up at the end of the 70's, Bill Nelson briefly led an
electro-pop outfit called Red Noise before heading in a more
low-profile instrumental direction: here's Bill Nelson today.
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