Brian's Got Some....De Sade jazz?

The Dissection And Reconstruction Of Music From The Past As Performed By The Inmates Of Lalo Schifrin's Demented Ensemble As A Tribute To The Memory Of The Marquis De Sade

Found this in a cobwebbed corner of the Internet long ago. Needless to say, the title jumped out at me. Quite a handle, huh?

So, what is it? Well, with a title like that, you'd expect it to be someone screaming into a piano soundboard while some other Mad Hatter banged a pan and recited snippets from "Philosophy In the Bedroom" or "The 120 Days"? Something like the audio equivalent of watching El Topo, maybe?

No, it's actually just a jazz album, and I admit one that's not near scary enough for a title like that! Mr. Schifrin  was known at the time for his jazzy film scores like The Cincinnati Kid or the Mission: Impossible theme. He doesn't stray too far from those roots. What he does do though is take aspects of 18th century music and apply them to a swinging, mid-60's jazz context.

You hear the gentle opening guitar notes of "Renaissance" and you can imagine them being played on a harpsichord. When an actual harpsichord shows up on "Beneath The Weeping Willow Shade", it seems appropriate under those period-style vocals. And then when that track kicks into gear, it still works. And man, on "Versailles Promenade", the guy is working that harpsichord like Bud Powell!

It's brave that the title track, "Marquis De Sade", has the most pop melody of the whole set. Imagine seeing that song on a hit parade! "Blues For Johann Sebastian Bach" is a great piano-led swinger. "Bossa Antique" is a dark little number, reminding me more than a little of Angelo Badalamenti's work for David Lynch.

Putting this in a kind of historical context - this album came out in 1966. Ten or fifteen years before, De Sade had gotten his first major reprinting and critical reassessment in his native France. The play Marat/Sade had opened in Germany in 1963. In fact, this album's long title is a homage to the full title of that play -

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marat/Sade

So, in a way De Sade was kind of an icon of the underground/avant-garde back then. How he inspired this well-played but still mainstream jazz album is beyond me. The 60's were a strange time all over, I guess.

But this is a swinging little oddity! Put out by Verve Records, produced by Creed Taylor, recorded by the great Rudy Van Gelder. Was put out as one of those Limited Edition CDs, now runs for $100 or more. Files sound great @320 Kbps, and also includes full art.

Live at the Vortex, Volume One

YEAH! Haven't heard this one in years, I think somebody made off with it a long time ago.....TOTALLY obscure UK punk ca. 1977-78, from a buncha great bands we've all never heard of......The Wasps, Art Attacks, Maniacs.......thanks to John N for this one, you GOTTA love ya some obscure Brit-punk from the REAL scene!

LIVE AT THE VORTEX VOLUME 1-01 THE WASPS-Can't Wait Til '78/02 MEAN STREET-Bunch of Stiffs/03 NEO-Small Lives/04 THE WASPS-Waiting For My Man/05 BERNIE TORME-Living For Kicks/06 ART ATTACKS-Animal Bondage/07 BERNIE TORME-Street  Fighter/08 ART ATTACKS-Frankenstein's Heart/09 NEO-Tell Me the Truth/10 SUSPECTS-nothing to Declare/11 MANIACS-You Don't Break My Heart/12 MANIACS-I Ain't Gonna Be History

The Joint: Fairly obscure UK 1960's psych

John N sends this one along, really not sure if I have/or am aware of it or not......it is "Freak Street" by The Joint, (UK 1967)......pretty sure I HAVE heard this one, check the short review below to see if it's something you are down with.....I'll have to refamiliarize myself with it, but I think (if i recall right) it's kind of an uncovered gem. See what ya think!
---------------------------------------

The Joint - Freak Street (1967 uk, proto progressive freak psych gem)

The Joint were created in July 1967 out of the Folkestone band The Lonely Ones, who had included in the early line up Noel Redding, who of course went of fame and fortune with Jimi Hendrix Experience, also Jim Leverton, who Played with The Yardbirds and Rick Davies who become famous as a member of Supertramp. 

During European dates in 1967 the band made up with film writer David Llewelyn and director/composer George Moorse and went on to record soundtrack material for a series Munich underground movies in Germany, including “Jet Generation” and “Der Griller”.

Most of the recordings of The Joint were long presumed lost, this release has been taken from a ¼ inch demo tape, it has been degenerated over time and the sound quality suffers in some places as a consequence, but to bring this great lost band to light again -after almost 40 years- feel sure is worth it. 

Tracks
1. Freak St (Williams, Moorse) - 5:10
2. Dinosaur (Llewelyn, Moorse) - 2:55
3. Runman Gunman (Williams, Moorse) - 3:53
4. Laura's (Llewelyn) - 3:24
5. On The Other Side (Davies, Moorse) - 4:24
6. Chariot Of Mercury (Andrews) - 3:58
7. No Sweat (Llewelyn) - 2:55
8. Cheap Freedom Joy (Llewelyn, Moorse) - 2:28
9. Turnstile (Llewelyn) - 8:07
10.Joint Melody (The Joint) - 1:51

The Joint
*John Andy Andrews - Lead Vocals
*Trevor Willians - Guitar, Vocals
*Rick Davies - Keyboard, Vocals
*Keith Bailey - Drums
*Martin Vinson/Steve Brass - Bass
*Tony Catchpole - Guitar

Dozer

Really (and I checked), how the hell has this blog went on for so long, with its semi-theme of stoner
rock, and NOT have, at anytime, a full feature on Swedish greats Dozer? (Fu Manchu, either, but that's another matter).......well, anyway......once they create the Stoner rock Hall of Fame, Dozer will be admitted, with their loud, brutish, crucnching- kick -in -the-guts rock.

Formed in 1995 in Borlange Sweden, from vocalist/guitarist Fredrik Nordin, guitarist Tommi Holappa, basasist Johan Rockner, and drummer Olle Marthens...... there have been changes in the rhythm section since, but the band's sound is based around the roaring guitars of Nordin and Holappa, as well as Nordin's growing, snarling vocals.

The first release, 2000's "In the Tail of a Comet", while very rough, still shows the potential of what was to come......allegedly it was recorded for less than $1000, and I could likely believe that....still it booms out power with blasters like "Lightyears Ahead", "Supersoul", and "High Roller".

The following year they would unleash "Madre de Dios", which spaces/psychs out the sound a bit in lieu of the straight up pounding rock of the earlier album......this is a good one, flows right through from start to finish....."Let the Shit Roll", Octanoid", "Earth Yeti", "Thunderbolt".......perhaps their best album, one of the essentials of the early 2000's stoner scene.

Album #3, "Call it Conspiracy", is nearly as good if not better......."The Hills Have Eyes" hits like a slap in the face, "Blacklight Revolution" and "Lightning Stalker" are as good as any stoner rock of the era......these guys were NOT exactly "Sons of Kyuss", thier sound owed a bit more to the Five Horse Johnson/Spiritual Beggars sound (a BIT less spacey, a bit bluesier)....something wrong with THAT?

"Through the Eyes of  Heathens" continues the trend, good, solid, hard riffing heavy ended stoner rock, THE sound of the early 00's.......I'm unsure, I think there is some "concept" at work here, it's not something most of the stoner bands did real well, that "conceptual" thing.....but, anyway, it still rocks like fuck, "Until man Exists No More", "Omega Glory", "man of Fire"......it's good stuff, and to these ears it SORT OF fits together in some kind of cohesive manner....

The most recent release from these bad boys came from 2008, "Beyond Colossal", fine album as well,
making them basically 4/5 if you don't consider the debut to be great.......their lyrical themes continue to get more "out there' (HEY, STONER ROCK MAAAAAN), but, seriously, great stuff, "The Flood", "Message Throught the Horses", lots more.....guys you done damn good.

But, as Blue Oyster Cult would say, wait! There's more......how about the TWO DISC Dozer Rarities, which contains ALL KINDSA cool shit, from various splits (Demon Cleaner, Los Natas (one of my faves, remember?), Brain Police), also demos  and B-sides, not to mention and oddball cover of Devo's "Mongoloid".

Also a couple of other things, Dozer contributed a disc to the "Fuzzbox Finest Series" (as did Wrench the other day) which contains a handful of tracks that are not on any of the other discs here.....also, I KNOW I have a couple of their EP's, etc, around here, just not finding them right now, but hopefully this can get you started!

IN THE TAIL OF A COMET-01 Supersoul/02 Lightyears Ahead/03 Speeder/04 Inside the Falcon/05 Riding the Machine/06 Cupola/07 Grand Dragon/08 Captain Spaceheart/09 High Roller

MADRE DE DIOS-01 Let the Shit Roll/02 Freeloaded/03 Soulshigh/04 Octanoid/05 Earth Yeti/06 Full Circle/07 Mono Impact/08 Early Grace/09 tx-9/10 Thinderbolt

CALL IT CONSPIRACY-01 The Hills Have Eyes/02 Rising/03 Feelgood Formula/04 The Exit/05 Spirit Fury Fire/06 A Matter of Time/07 Man made Mountain/08 Way to Redemption/09 Crimson Highway/10 Black Light Revolution/11 Glorified/12 Lightning Stalker

THROUGH THE EYES OF HEATHENS-01 Drawing Dead/02 Born a Legend/03 From Fire Fell/04 Until man Exists No More/05 Days of Future Past/06 Omega Glory/07 Blood Undone/08 The Roof The River The Revolver/09 Man of Fire/10 Big Sky Theory

BEYOND COLOSSAL-01 The Flood/02 Extoskeleton part 2/03 Empire's End/04 The Ventriloquist/05 Grand Inquisitor/06 Message Through the Horses/07 The Throne/08 Fire For Crows/09 Two Coins For Eyes/10 Bound For Greatness

RARITIES DISC 1-01 Typhoon (Nerve! Compilation 1997)/02 Mammoth mountain (Nerve!
Compilation 1997)/03 Twilight Sleep (Coming Down the Mountain 12" 1998)/04 Tanglefoot (Dozer vs Demon Cleaner 7" 1998)/05 Certerline (Dozer vs Demon Cleaner 7" 1998)/06 Silverball (Dozer vs Demon Cleaner Hawaiian Cottage EP)/07 Hail the Dude (Dozer vs Demon Cleaner Domestic Dudes EP)/08 She (Graven Images-A Tribute to the Misfits)/09 Phantom (The Phantom 7" 2000)/10 Sub Ethena (The Phantom 7" 2000)

RARITIES DISC 2-01  Rings of Saturn (madre de Dios 12" Bonus Track)/02 Day of the Rope (Day of the Rope 7" vinyl 2002)/03 The Electrocutioner (Day of the Rope 7" Vinyl)/04 Sonic Reducer (Los Natas split)/05 The Wreck (Rising Single 2003)/06 Southern Star (Call It Conspiracy 12" Bonus Track)/07 Star By Star (Rising Single 2003)/08 Vinegar Fly (Demo 2005)/09 Mongoloid (Devo Cover-Sucking In the 70's 2nd Edition)/10 Extoskeleton (Brain Police Split 2007)

IN FULL EFFECT EP-01 In Full Effect (Original Mix)/02 In Full Effect (Radio Edit)/03 Drop the Bomb (Original Mix)/04 Drop the Bomb (Radio Edit)

FUZZBOX FINEST SERIES-01 Let the Shit Roll/02 Calamari Sidetrip/03 Supersoul/04 Captain Spaceheart/05 Drawing Dead/06 Full Circle/07 Orange/08 Two Ton Butterfly

The Plastic Cloud

(Scott) this has been something of a fave of mine for a while as well, pretty certain I've not posted this one either (in case I didn't say so, John N sent me this one today as well......it's some good light Canadian psych rock, and, I think, the review I located of it seems to sum it up well, so why not another cut/paste evaluation (trying to hurry getting ready for work, also)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Plastic Cloud were a psychedelic rock band based out of Bay Ridges, Ontario.  Had their homebase been located elsewhere (San Fran, NYC, or LA) things may have been very different for the Plastic Cloud but instead this sole album has languished in obscurity.  Psych fans and collectors remain divided, however: collectors consider Plastic Cloud one of Canada’s best psych albums (or indeed the best from anywhere) while some jaded day-trippers merely find it just ok/nothing special.   All lyrics were written by guitarist/vocalist Don Brewer but other members were drummer Randy Umphrey, bass player Brian Madill, and guitarist Mike Cadieux.

At first listen I was not impressed with the Plastic Cloud’s only offering.  After reading all the hype about mind-jarring fuzz guitars and John Lennon-like vocals I found the disc rather mediocre and unimpressive.  After several more spins I began to appreciate the band’s intensity and lysergic charm: this disc truly does deliver the goods if you’re into hardcore, late-night psych sounds.  Two of the tracks (“Civilization Machine” and “You Don’t Care”) come close to or exceed the ten minute mark and both are repetitive but also very good.   “You Don’t Care” features nasty eastern style fuzztone and powerful drum work that never bores despite its 10.5 minute length.  Other tracks like “Epistle To Paradise” and the superb “Bridge Under The Sky” show a dreamy, softer folk-rock side which is equally appealing.  These tracks have a nice trippy production and attractive ringing guitars.  Another gem, the “Dainty General Rides Again” sounds like a lost British psych pop nugget and features a nice brief fuzz guitar break. 

While not a major classic, Plastic Cloud is surely one of the better Canadian psych albums and is consistently good throughout.  The guitarists’ tones vaguely remind me of Jorma Kaukonen's work with the Jefferson Airplane: these guitar tones coil, uncoil, and burrow deep into your head like all great psych guitar solos should.  Once again, if you enjoy great, ripping fuzz guitar and sinister vocals (check out “Shadows Of Your Mind”) this album is definitely for you.

Originals came out on Allied in 1968 and are very expensive.  The group also released a single off Allied in 1968 (“Shadows Of Your Mind” coupled with “The Dainty General”).  The best and only official cd reissue I know of is by Pacemaker (from 2005) although it offers nothing in the way of liner notes, just a couple of photos.  If Canada produced acknowledged, underrated classics like Spirit Of Christmas’ Lies To Live By (prog), The Guess Who’s It’s Time (garage/beat), The Sinners Vox Populi(psych pop/garage) and Kensington Market’s Aardvark (psych pop) then Plastic Cloud is just a notch or so below these records but still a great album.

----------------------------------------------------

Pretty accurate, I'd say, but I think maybe I like the album a bit better than does the reviewer..... psych fans, this has all the elements of the stuff we love, fuzz guitar, 10 minute songs, Eastern-style dabblings...... not a "classic" so to speak, but I find it a damn solid, and not that well known album. See what you think, I like this one a good bit.

PLASTIC CLOUD-01 Epistle to Paradise/02 Shadows of Your Mind/03 Ain't A happy Man/04 You Don't Care/05 Bridge Under the Sky/06 Face Behind the Sun/07 Dainty General Rides/Civilization Machines

Nona Hendryx

Been looking around for this one for a while, of course John N had a link to it.....a very underappreciated rock/soul effort from big-voiced Nona Hendryx, late of LaBelle....this album was a critical favorite in 1977 but sank like a stone as no one could figure out how to market it......but it's a good one and still stands up well today. Hard to find, if you're interested.

NONA HENDRYX-01 Winning/02 Everybody Wants To Be Somebody/03 Tax Exile/04 Tout de Suite Mam'selle/05 Take a Chance/06 Problem/07 Once Again/08 Too late to Run/09 Will You be There/10 Leaving Here Today

Fire Escape

Strange album here. Fire Escape were apparently a bunch of session musicians assembled by Kim Fowley and Michael Lloyd, to cover a batch of 1960's standards (title track, "96 Tears", more).....the thing here is we are uncertain as to whom the performers were on this one, at all.... it is rumored that Fowley performed, also Sky Saxon of the Seeds and some others, but basically it's been shrouded in mystery. However, listen to this, it's actually quite a find selection of good cover versions of good songs of the era.

To the best of my knowledge, there was never again a recording credited to (this version, at least) of Fire Escape.

Trust me on this one, a historical curiosity that is ALSO worth a couple of listens, these are obviously songs that translate well to cover versions.

PSYCHOTIC REACTION- 01 Psychotic Reaction/ 02 Talk Talk/ 03 Love Special Delivery/ 04 The Trip/ 05 96 Tears/ 06 Blood Beat/ 07 Trip Maker/ 08 Journeys End/ 09 Pictures and Designs/ 10 Fortune Teller

For Studboy, forgot I had this, live Sungrazer

Forgot all about having this one, senility is coming on quickly, but if you've not heard this, Studboy, you're
gonna freak..... a Sungrazer set from 6/10/11 (my son Grant's 14th birthday!).... it's called "Duna Jam, Somewhere in Sardinia", it's pretty damn good (as are their studio efforts) with the same combination of riffing stoner rock/hypnotic psych...... I really hope you see this after the cool Sungrazer studio stuff you sent me the other day. Great band!

DUNA JAM SOMEWHERE IN SARDINIA-01 If/ 02 Somo/ 03 Octo/ 04 Mirador/ 05 Zero Zero/ 06 Common Believer/ 07 Behind

Sorry I forgot about this one, I would have given it a proper placement with the rest of their stuff, this is a great band...... hope everyone checked out the post the other day, as well as checking out this rarity!

Talking Heads Part 2 (an outside submission, somewhat).....

OK, I just couldn't let this go.....I found on Pirate Bay a "labor of love" creation by a Talking Heads fan
named "imunionjack" ......it's enormous, just his fave stuff from the band, in no particular order (well, alphabetical order)..... well, I didn't want to repeat a bunch of tracks off of the studio albums I just put up yesterday, nor, the live stuff off of "Stop Making Sense" or "Name of This Band" (he didn't label everything as well as he might have, but it's ok).....so what do we have after my massive pruning job? Well, for one, we get a bunch of tracks from "Popular Favorites: Sand in the Vasoline", which will save me (I think) from having to post that double set.......but also, a ton of live tracks (dates, places unknown,I trimmed the ones from the aforementioned live sets, and likely some of them will turn up again on my boots), demos (again, the same ones MAY turn up later in my stuff), alternate versions (there's a REALLY good alternate version of "Life

During Wartime" that I had never heard).... anyway, I'm going to try to boil these down to "disc" size, likely it'll take 3 or 4, but grab what you wish, I'll describe them in the tracklist as best I can, based on the information I have. Some of this, again, may windup being repeated, but I really didn't want to leave out a gem that any real fans of this band (like ME for example) would miss should I have skipped the whole thing....so, I thought about changing the order of the tracks (all demos on one disc, live on another, etc), but, who am I? I already trimmed about (half? a fourth?) of his project......so I will leave them in their glorious alphabetical order.... thanks to iamunionjack, wherever you are (this was created a few years back)....hope ya like it, some more of my stuff later tonight or tomorrow!

TALKING HEADS RANDOM RARITIES DISC 1-01 Crosseyed and Painless (Live)/02 Gangster of
Love/03 I Wish You Wouldn't Say That/04 Popsicle/05 Stay Hungry (Live)/06 A Clean Break (Let's Work) (Live)/07 Artists Only (Live)/08 Blind/09 Born Under Punches (Live)/10 Love Goes To a Building On Fire (Live)/11 Burning Down the House (Live)/12 Can You Hear the Heartbeat/13 Cities (Alternate Version)/14 City of Dreams/15 Crosseyed and Painless (Live)

TALKING HEADS RANDOM RARITIES DISC 2-01 Dancing For Money (demo)/02 Dancing For Money (Unfinished Outtake)/03 Double Groove (demo)/04 Found a Job (Live)/05 Genius of Love (Tom Tom Club)/06 Heaven (Live)/07 Heaven (Outtake)/08 Houses In Motion (Live)/09 I Feel Pain In My heart (Outtake)/10 I Walk the Line (demo)/11 I'm Not In Love (Outtake)/12 Life During Wartime (Alternate Version)/13 Life During Wartime (Live)/14 Lifetime Piling Up/15 Mind

TALKING HEADS RANDOM RARITIES DISC 3-
01 Mr. Jones/02 Once In a Lifetime Live/03 Psycho Killer (Demo)/04 Road To Nowhere/05 Thank You For Sending Me an Angel (demo)/06 The Big Country (Outtake)/07 The Girls Want to Be With the Girls (Live)/08 The Great Curve (Live)/09 These Boots are made For Walking (demo)/10 Two Note Swivel (Unfinished Outtake)/11 Uh Oh Love Comes to Town (demo)/12 Unison (demo)/13 Warning Sign (Live)/14 Warning Sign (Outtake)

Malignus Youth

This one is fairly rare, the self titled debut EP from Malingus Youth who hailed from Sierra Vista Arizona. Fast tempo'd hard core punk, I know they released at least one full length (read about it) on which they flesh out their sound with more complex song structures and vocal trade offs, but here we have the raw skin and bones of their minimalistic sound. The band consisted of guitarist/vocalist James Martin, vocalist Octavio Olaje, bassist/vocalist Tom Shelden, and drummer/vocalist Mike Armenta....I think I picked this up when seeing them play in a bar in Arizona year ago, was amazed that they actually had further releases......anyone (maybe in AZ?) have a copy of one of them?

As for this one, speedy, pounding songs that recall maybe The Ramones (only faster!) and a vocal style that is perhaps not unlike Jello Biafra's faster rants in the Dead Kennedys ("Drug Me", for example).......hey, it's rare, it's interesting, and if you don't like it I'd say it is less than ten minutes in total length!

MALIGNUS YOUTH-01 Malignus Youth/02 I Think I Know/03 Go Ahead/04 Again/05 So This Is Life/06 In These Thoughts/07 Power Trip/08 The Only Unknown

Banana Moon

Now, HERE is a rare one for you, seems like a good time to drag this one out. Banana Moon were a band formed by guitarist  Daevid Allen after leaving Soft Machine in the early 70's, drummer Marc Blanc, bassist Pete Fontaine, and sometime vocalist Gilly Smith. Confusingly, this also contains some tracks from Gong, whom Allen would later join.....anyway, what we have here is kind of a French Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd light psych, with strange and sad lyrics. This is a hard one to get your mitts on, and I had forgotten all about it..... it's better as a "collectable" than a listen, although, I will say, it certainly has it's moments (see "Pretty Miss Titty" in 3 seperate versions, as well as "Hyp Hypnotise You".......there are remnants of the classic Soft Machine Sound here, as well as, obviously, what would become Gong, it's not coherent in the slightest, but it is interesting and prog/psych fans of the early 1970's Euro-scene should lap this up! Enjoy, and PLEASE let me know your feelings on this!

01 Intro/02 Pretty Miss Titty/03 Rich Girl/04 Un ouef For You/05 My Mother's Gone to India/Hare Krishna/Time of the Green Banana/Remember the Name/06 La belle cerebrale/07 Est-ce que je sues (garcon ou fille)/08 Hyp hypnotise You/09 Goldilox/10 Why Do You Come Knocking at My Door?/11 Rock N Roll Angel/12 Why Are We Sleeping/13 French Garden/14 French Garden/15 Pretty Miss Titty/16 Pretty Miss Titty/17 Gong Song/18 Je ne fume pas des bananes (Pop Club 1968)/19 Je ne fume pas des bananes

Really a pretty obscure one, see what you think and give me a full report!

Brian Brings Some Scary Free Jazz

(Scott)-Not a peep from me on this one, this falls way outside the realm of my limited "expertise" (such as it is)...I'll be checking these out, as I do EVERY SINGLE THING anyone sends me, and thanks once again to Brian for bringing eccentricity and variety to the table!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is a post I hope won't fall on too many deaf ears. I've barely hinted at it before, but I'm a nut for jazz music... I have 150+ CDs of it. And I should say, not the TV menu/background music/smooth jazz kind of crap that passes for it nowadays. I like my stuff pre-1980, that's for sure. I've got a lot of classics to share. But first, we're gonna go weird....

The strangest discipline of jazz I've gotten into is the free stuff. While I have many key albums from the leading artists of the style - Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor - for me, the person who's created the most apocalyptic, fascinating free jazz is German saxophonist Peter Brötzmann. He has been a lynchpin of European free music since the mid-60's. Any number of major musicians have played with him over the years.

                                                              

This first one is an album I posted last year. Machine Gun was a defining moment of 1960's free jazz. The group Brötz assembled consisted of three saxes, a piano, two basses, and two drummers. Comparatively, this thing is like Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz with a shotgun to it's head! Just an explosiveness of sound, reaching a point where the instruments transcend the very idea of music itself and just go for emotion. This file is a rip of my really out of print 2008 Complete Machine Gun Sessions CD.

Balls and Nipples are two mischievously titled albums from the late 60's. Balls is a trio album consisting of Brötz, dynamite drummer Han Bennink, and pianist Fred Van Howe, all returning from Machine Gun. They create a hell of a racket with just three of them. Nipples is a sextet affair, consisting of two long tracks. I don't know the personnel.

In the mid 80's, Brötzmann formed the group Last Exit with bassist Bill Laswell, guitarist Sonny Sharrock, and drummed Ronald Shannon Jackson. They created a driving, rock-edged kind of free jazz, fronted by Brötz's saxophone and the shards of Sharrock's guitar. I've always  wondered if this group was influential to John Zorn; I think his jazz-metal supergroup Painkiller bears no small resemblance to Last Exit.

While they almost exclusively released live albums - of which I've included the dynamic Köln here - they released one studio record, the very rare Iron Path from 1988. If you like energetic music in all it's forms, you just need these two. Maximum volume, kids....

In the late 90's, Brötz formed the Die Like A Dog Quartet. The name of the group refers to how Brötz's musical idol Albert Ayler died. The group featured William Parker and Hamid Drake as the rhythm section, and trumpeter Toshinori Kondo as co-lead instrument. Kondo's trumpet - which bears the strong stamp of Miles Davis's smeary, wailing 70's electric sound - drives Brötz to even greater heights of saxophone fire-breathing.

The centerpiece of their discography is the two disc live album Little Birds Have Fast Hearts. It consist of six parts, ranging in length from 4 mins to 45 minutes long. The group displays any number of emotions and colors throughout while they create their intense sonic stew. Interplay like you can't imagine. These two files are the complete set - 2 1/2 hours of music. Apocalyptic shronk.

If you guys have ever gambled on one of 

my suggestions, try this one too. There is an intensity and purity to this music that must be respected. If your music collection includes grindcore, drone, noise music, or avant-garde strangeness, you may find something to like here. The bonus link for this post is 3 albums by one of my favorite cynical modern comics, a fella named Doug. I had posted one of his albums last year. Here it is again, along with two infamous bootlegs of his from the mid-2000s. This music and this comedy both stare into the abyss.

A Treasury of Shel Silverstein

This is another one of Brian's genius/ecclectic creations, 100% great stuff here....as is my error, I had a bunch more stuff to send to him to flesh this out and i DIDN'T, thus likely there will be a part 2......so, for now, enjoy this stuff, and look forward to the second half (sometime down the road), which will have some FAB stuff as well......thanks as always to the forever-hardworking Brian, as he tries (harder than I do even) to get unique, thought provoking material posted here and he does a SPECTACULAR job.....really, without my helpers/guests, this blog would be a shallow imitation of some of the other well-established ones, but my TEAM makes sure that one every occasion, we at least TRY to keep it fresh, and Brian is KEY to that.....Enjoy Shel, hopefully there will be an excellent part 2 submission in the future sometime.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Boy, are you guys getting a gift with this one! This stuff is fairly rare on blogs from what I can tell. And at least three of these can't be found anywhere else! (Hopefully that doesn't mean this gets sniped)

Shel Silverstein can be different things to people. Some may know him from being a songwriter in the 60's and 70's, penning songs for other artists - most notably "A Boy Named Sue", which became a hit for Johnny Cash. He also wrote the classic "Cover Of The Rolling Stone" for Dr. Hook. To others of us who grew up in the 70's and 80's (and maybe later for some), he was the writer and artist of the classic children's books Where The Sidewalk Ends, A Light In The Attic, and The Giving Tree. I know I've had his loopy poems in my head since I was little.

It's only in the last few years that I've gotten into his music, and I've found a lot to love. While technically you could call much of his stuff solo folk music, it's that in name only. It isn't someone standing there singing Woody Guthrie tunes with their heart on their sleeve. The first thing you'll notice is the force of his personality: he shouts, wails, garbles, gasps, and shrieks. I don't think I've heard someone else who's so present in front of a microphone. The guy's energy was boundless.

                                                                                                                                                   

The first album presented here, I'm So Good I Don't Have To Brag, was recorded live by Chess Records in 1965. It's an intimate, funny affair, with some good between song banter with the audience. The songs are great, too: "Modern Talk", "The Ugliest Man In Town", "Lemmebesomethin'". Also keep an ear out for blues legend Little Walter playing on a few tracks.

Drain My Brain - from '66 - is a more full band rock and roll album, but is no less raucous and fun. "Floobie Doobie Doo", "Hoodoo Voodoo Lady", the title track...it's all great stuff, especially the simple and beautiful "Rings Of Grass". If hippies hadn't been so scene-conscious, they would've flocked to this guy.

Boy Named Sue & His Other Country Songs contains the famous title track, as well as one of my favorites, "Dirty Ol' Me".   It is a more country affair than his other albums, but the genre fits him well. You can see why Johnny Cash took notice of "Sue" by the time he recorded At San Quentin.

Freakin' At The Freaker's Ball is classic. A really fun batch of tunes: "I Got Stoned and I Missed It", "Stacy Brown Got Two", "Don't Give A Dose To The One You Love Most", "Polly In A Porny", the title track... great stuff. If you've never heard this one, give yourself a smack and get to it!

The center of Shel's legacy - whether it be music or books - is of course Where The Sidewalk Ends. And this was the first music of his I'd ever heard. And needless to say, he brings the book to life. He is, in a word, unhinged on this recording. Somehow he seamlessly combines menace and whimsy. To quote a review of him I've read, "he experiments with inflections like a junkie whose fix is the human personality". Do I need to say anything more?

His last album from 1985, A Light In The Attic, is yet another great collection of songs and poems from one of his beloved books. Took me a long time to hunt down this one!

The last one here I'm gonna talk about out of sequence because it's so distinctive and rare. In between Boy Named Sue and Freaker's Ball, Shel recorded this acetate, which came to be called Fuck 'Em. Information on it is sketchy - all I could find is what's on the Discogs page. The disc was auctioned away years ago - never released - but somehow the album ended up on the great and mysterious Song365. It is incomplete - Discogs says 21 tracks, but there's only 14 here. But what is here is gold! "Dope" and "Fuck 'Em" are two of the best songs ever put to tape. Other funny ones, too. Definitely check this one out... I don't think you'll find it anywhere else. Scott couldn't even find it on Pirate Bay. Even a lot of Silverstein fans don't know of it's existence. If someone somehow has a more complete file, please let me know!

 The bonus link for this post is the first album by one of my favorite comics, who OD'ed over a decade ago. I miss Mitch... he was really unique. More people should know about him.

The Busboys

I've been looking for this gem for quite a while, had a vinyl copy many years ago and, to be honest, wasn't even sure I've ever seen it on CD.... thanks to John N, I finally got a link for 1980's The Busboys "Minimum Wage Rock n Roll"..... loved it back then, still a wonderful album today..... this band came along a bit before Living Color (in the small genre of African American hard rock), and, I think, FAR superior.......

The Busboys were Brian ONeal on keyboards/vocals, Kevin O'Neal on bass/vocals, Mike Jones on keyboards/vocals, Steve Felix on drums, singer Gus Louderman, and guitar-whiz Vic Johnson.... good, cracking hard rock n roll, great songs, great humorous non-politically correct lyrics...... loved this album and really glad to hear it once again!

This is a winner and has always been kind of hard to locate, so thanks to John N for the hookup! Not going into a lot of detail here, this album is a must-hear early 1980's forgotten classic! You want to hear this if you haven't!

MINIMUM WAGE ROCK N ROLL-01 Dr. Doctor/ 02 Minimum Wage/ 03 Did You See Me?/ 04 There Goes the Neighborhood/ 05 Johnny Soul'd Out/ 06 KKK/ 07 Angie/ 08 D-Day/ 09 Tell the Coach/ 10 We Stand United/ 11 Respect

Again, I can't emphasize enough what a great album this is.... you REALLY want this one if you are uninitiated........

Ukulele Madness Part 2

(Scott)-Make sure and give it up for Brian for continually finding esoterica like this, as well as combining it with the hard effort it takes to make cohesive, large-scale posts.....trust me it takes a lot of work, on his part, and the first part of THIS collection was recieved MUCH, MUCH better than I expected.......many of you requested more and here it is!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is quite a swollen sequel to the Ukulele post. This'll probably be the last one for awhile; it's all the goodies I can find. First up are two more Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain albums...

The Secret Of Life is one of their studio releases. Many great covers that weren't on the two Live In London albums I gave you: "Le Freak", "MacArthur Park", "Je'Taime Mo Non Plus", "Only You"... There's also a great original song in the epic 7 minute title track. I put the Japanese cover here cuz I think it's cooler than the original.

The next UOOGB album was a completely mysterious unexpected score: it's a live album. It had no title, and the track listing doesn't match info on any of their other live albums. With hints given in the "Teenage Dirtbag" and "Ode To Joy" intros, it is from a recording made at The Royal Albert Hall for television broadcast. I just titled it Unknown Live. It sounds great @320, and it's sequenced properly. Features at least a couple songs that aren't on the other releases. I particularly like their playing of "Ode To Joy", where they have the audience play ukuleles with them. When the whole hall claps along on the last few choruses, I cried. Really.

While looking for more UOOGB stuff, I stumbled across a different Ukulele Orchestra - the Orchestra of jako Brno, in the Czech Republic. They're clearly inspired by the U.K. group - they even cover a few of the same songs. That's not to say it's a ripoff though... they do some other interesting covers, and it's definitely enjoyable music. I've included two albums - A Little Less Conversation and Live In Brno. Looking up info on the group, I found that two members - a father and son - were murdered in a spree killing a year or so ago. Eastern Europe is a rough room...

I should say right out that while Dent plays ukulele on almost all of these songs, it is by no means the focus of the music. This is just a great oddball modern pop record, with a lot of other instruments going on.

Practically every song reminds me of a different genre. I hear Dylan, ragtime, island music, Randy Newman, Vegas schmaltz, Pavement, the Phil Spector sound... and the guy sounds quite a bit like Morrissey. That's meant as a compliment.

This is one case where I wanna get the music out there, but I also want to encourage you guys to go buy something from him, too. He's got quite a few albums available on iTunes. Same for the UOOGB. Show the love, y'all!

Years ago, while listening to AOL Radio - wow, remember when that mattered? - I came across this album. It stayed in OOP expensive limbo for a long time before I scored it cheap on Amazon a few days ago. I've barely formed an opinion on it, but I do think it's good, it's really rare, and it's not posted anywhere else (I've looked), so here it is straight to your grubby little hands. "Flight Of the Bumblebee" and the Super Mario theme on ukulele!

Hope you guys dig this. I think this ukulele post is even better than the previous one. Certainly a bit more diverse. Give all these a listen, and when you see a Uke hanging on a wall in a store somewhere, you'll know some awesome ass music can be made on that thing! And if by a freakish chance you haven't hit post #1, please do.

The bonus link is a repost of another N-L album, the one that makes fun of Woodstock. It's a classic. Long live Megadeath!!!