Kosmik Radiation Radio - November 24, 2015 Playlist

CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Redbone "Redbone" 1970 (USA)

I have been collecting 60s and 70s records since the 80s, and having long since gotten through all the "big classic rock names", in recent years I have become more interested in the second, third (and lower) tiers of the rock canon. Most folks' awareness of the band Redbone probably consists of two things: they had a major top 10 hit called "Come And Get Your Love" (the 4th-best selling single of 1974 and popular again today after recently appearing on a Hollywood movie soundtrack), and the fact that they were all Native Americans. If you really know your history, perhaps you would also be aware that they had minor hits with "Witch Queen of New Orleans" and "Maggie" (also a minor hit for The Jimmy Castor Bunch when they covered it), songs which were performed by other artists at the time (Tom Jones did a mean "Witch Queen"). But that barely scratches the surface of the story of a band that is almost criminally underrated. Brothers Patrick and Candido Vasquez got involved in rock'n'roll during the doo-wop era, launching an Everly Brothers-style singing duo under their stage names Pat & Lolly Vegas, though they did not score any hits. Supposedly, sometime in the mid-sixties they were struggling musicians who paid the rent giving bass and drum lessons to their landlady's son and his pal - another pair of former doo-woppers named Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina, who would go on to become the rhythm section of Crazy Horse! By the end of the sixties the Vegases put together a Heavy Rock Band and scored a major label deal, resulting in their double-LP debut which is our CAOTW. Redbone's music is almost impossible to classify, but the key elements include soulful harmony singing (from doo-wop to Motown), swamp rock grooves (at one point the group had been called The Crazy Cajun Cakewalk Band, which is the name of the first track on this album) and hotshit guitar playing that combines Lolly's jazzy-trippy vibe (he reminds me of Frank Zappa more than any other guitarist) and Tony Bellamy's funky chicken-scratch and wah-wah funk. And thus "the first Native American rock band" was really an eclectic all-American band who could alternately be mistaken for either a "white" or "black" group (their name probably furthered this confusion). Consider their big "one hit wonder" number "Come And Get Your Love" once more: it's a soulful disco number featuring an electric sitar! That's an unusual combo in any era, yet there's nothing remotely weird about it, in fact it's an insanely catchy piece of pop music that folks will be humming along with and dancing to until the end of time. Classic rock indeed.

(N) = New Release

Artist	Song	Album	Year	Country
The Rascals	It's Wonderful	Once Upon A Dream	1968	USA
Country Joe & The Fish	Susan	Together	1968	USA
Dungen	Åkt dit	Allas Sak (N)	2015 (Kemado)	Sweden
Alex G	So	Trick (N)	2015 (Lucky Number)	USA
Deerhunter	All The Same	Fading Frontier (N)	2015 (4AD)	USA
Kurt Vile	Dust Bunnies	B'lieve I'm Goin Down... (N)	2015 (Matador)	USA

The Sword	Tears Like Diamonds	High Country (N)	2015 (Razor & Tie)	USA
Wand	Dungeon Dropper	1000 Days (N)	2015 (Drag City)	USA
Fuzz	Pollinate	Fuzz II (N)	2015 (In The Red)	USA
Thee Oh Sees	Withered Hand	Mutilator Defeated At Last (N)	2015 (Castle Face)	USA
Male Gaze	Smog Dawn	Gale Maze EP (N)	2015 (Castle Face)	USA

Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass	All My Loving (Beatles)	South Of The Border	1964	USA
Enoch Light & The Light Brigade	I Feel Fine (Beatles)	Discotechque vol. 2 Dance...Dance...Dance	1965	USA
Wes Montgomery	I'll Be Back (Beatles)	Road Song	1968	USA
The Sound Symposium	It Ain't Me Babe (Bob Dylan)	Bob Dylan Interpreted	1969	USA
Soul Flutes	Day-O (Harry Belafonte)	Trust In Me	1968	USA

Redbone	Night Come Down / Tennessee Girl	Redbone CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK	1970	USA
Buffy Sainte-Marie	She Used To Wanna Be A Ballerina	She Used To Wanna Be A Ballerina	1971	Canada
Redbone	Jambone	Redbone CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK	1970	USA
JJ Cale	Woman I Love	Naturally	1971	USA
Iron Butterfly	Get Out Of My Life Woman (Allen Toussaint R.I.P.)	Heavy	1968	USA

Ramatam (Pinera from Iron Butterfly and Mitchell from Jimi Hendrix Experience)	Ask Brother Ask	Ramatam	1972	USA/UK
Buddy Miles	Runaway Child (Little Miss Nothin')	We Got To Live Together	1970	USA
Papa John Creach (with Hot Tuna)	Walking The Tou-Tou	Filthy!	1972	USA
Wet Willie	Mama Don't Raise No Fools	Dixie Rock	1975	USA
Rory Gallagher	Laundromat (live)	Live!	1972	Ireland

Nina Hagen Band	Fisch Im Wasser / Auf'm Friedhof	Nina Hagen Band	1978	Germany
Taco	Livin' In My Dream World	After Eight	1982	Indonesia/Netherlands /Germany
The Undisputed Truth	Cosmic Contact / Method To The Madness	Method To The Madness	1976	USA
Odyssey	The Woman Behind The Man	Odyssey	1977	USA

Savoy Brown	Stay While The Night Is Young	Raw Sienna	1970	UK
Man	California Silks And Satins	Rhinos Winos & Lunatics	1974	UK (Wales)
Fairport Convention	One More Chance	Rising For The Moon	1975	UK
Fairport Convention	Tale In Hard Time	What We Did On Our Holidays	1969	UK

The Pink Fairies	Walk, Don't Run (based on The Ventures)	What A Bunch Of Sweeties	1972	UK/Canada