ALBUMS: That’s the Way of the World, Earth Wind and Fire (1975); Ain’t No Doubt About it: Graham Central Station (1975). Light of the World, Kool and the Gang (1974); Born to Get Down (1976), Muscle Shoals Horns.
I started out to just do one review here on the Muscle Shoals Horns, an album I’ve had a long time and I was in the “M’s’ of my alphabetical countdown.
From Left: Graham Central Station; Earth Wind and Fire: Kool and the Gang; Muscle Shoals Horns.
Then I started finding albums I had forgotten even though some were recently purchased. Funk is a dance band music, often with horns and heavy bottom, drums and bass. When it works, it puts you up on the dance floor.
I’m going to give you a short assessment as I rank this small batch put together from my collection. I do have more. The Average White Band–which I have already done way back when I was in the ‘A’s’. I’m in the ‘M’s now. One notable funky music artist coming up is Sly and the Family Stone which I will hold on until I get to the S’s.
OK this is going to be thumbnail observations in alphabetical order and then I’ll declare a favorite:
Earth WInd and FIre: This album was a huge hit. Shining Star was a 1970’s staple. as was the title song ‘That’s the Way of the World.’ Definitely the most commercial/radio friendly of the group.
Graham Central Station: Certainly the hardest rocking of the group. You can hear the influence of his former band mate Sly Stone in creating a freewheeling musical extravaganza with distortion-enhanced electric guitars.
Kool and the Gang: Probably the old school funkiest, if that makes sense. They had ace musicians who snapped to sudden stops and turned to funk it up in another direction.
Muscle Shoals Horns: I came in without any expectations. Depending on your tastes this album may be the best of the group. They got my attention and not just because they are local here to the state of Alabama. But they can play. And the sound of the vinyl on my stereo system was the best of the others. As with all these groups, the musicianship was top-notch. I will definitely be keeping this one out in case I need more emergency dance music.
Donovan sang about it, ‘Mellow Yellow.’ Bright Eyes mentioned a Yellow Bird in two great songs. And yellow was the color of a rare cardinal who blessed the Birmingham area with numerous sightings.
Yellow is the color of sadness. For me, right now.
I’m mourning the loss of my yellow vinyl copy of Ole’ by the Electric Light Orchestra. Well I didn’t actually lose it.
I sold it.
I’ve written about the yellow bird here. And I’ve written about the sadness of selling beloved records here. Long story short I sold a Nick Drake record and a Buckingham Nicks record for $110 total. It turned out to be a fair price based on the Discogs median pricing average. In another transaction I traded/sold my ELO for a new vinyl I’d had my eye on at about $16 plus 5 dollars in cash. The $21 value may have been a little low but I was hurrying at this point. I got a fair trade and the whole thing jostled a memory from 1978.
(FILE) Rare yellow Cardinal spotted in Birmingham area.
I’ actually had two Electric Light Orchestra albums when I first did the MVC review in 2018.. The Ole’ ELO, yellow vinyl. I picked up when I was caller number something or other in Athens, Ga., Do radio stations still do that? We used to sit near the radio, the phone number dialed up except for the last digit. This was the same radio station (WRFC) where I did a little internship as part of a high school journalism program where we worked on the school newspaper and other journo things like this radio gig. And it was the station where I won the yellow record.
As part of that radio internship we went out and sold ads for radio spots. Then we made a radio commercial, which the radio actually used. After one of these sessions, So there were three of us going off campus every week to sell ads and go to the radio station.
On our last day of the program Walter Allen, the son of the principal, caved into repeated requests by our co-hort Bobby Brumby. Bobby want on the verge of getting his license wanted to drive. Just a little bit. Walter finally agreed..
He had been itching to get his driver’s licence, which he did not have yet. But he had been studying for it. The road the school was on was a relatively low trafficked 4-lane road. What could go wrong?
Bobby drove well, and we were almost back at the school. Walter and I had relaxed as we approached the driveway to turn in. But Bobby was still going 50 mph. “Bobby slow down here’s the turn,” Walter and I were shouting.”
He took the turn at about 40, maybe dropping to 30. It was unclear if it was the brakes or the pole l — the cylindrical pole made of steel and concrete which we drove over ripping bottom out of the car — that were factors in slowing the car down. The pole was a dividing market between entrance and exit.
But we knew what finally stopped the car: The 20-foot solid steel light post, one big enough to shine light on a large part of the front of Cedar Shoals High School.
We hit it head-on. At this point I think Bobby was searching his mind for the answer that he surely must have seen in the driver’s manual he had been studying. The question: What do I do when I’m careening headlong into a light pole.
I believe we were in a Ford Taurus or some mid-sized sedan. From inside the car it sounded like you would expect: a grinding metal on metal sound as the bending post scraped the innards out of that under carriage. The car had slowed from 40 mph but was showing no signs of stopping
I felt like I was in the scariest ride at SIx Flags. Finally the car went head-on into the giant steel poll holding a streetlight. Whew!
We were finally stopped. Walter, the principal’s kid, was yelling at Bobby, who was just kind of flabbergasted. I said, well, let’s get out of here. At least nobody was hurt. We reached for the door. and BAM!
There was a loud bang on top of the car, so loud in fact that we rolled off our seats to ball-up on the floorboard, which in spots was lumpy as if we’d run over a steel pole. Oh yeah, we did run over a steel pole. At this point we thought we might be under attack.
The roof inside the car actually showed the indented spot where the light fixture had fallen. Weight estimate? Oh about a buck-50 maybe of steel and glass. It had obviously picked up some speed on the 20-foot drop. It was a delayed reaction part of the crash. Thankfully none of us were out of the car yet when the light fixture fell off the pole we had hit.
‘Damn, I think it’s totaled,’ was my observation from the back seat.
“Ya think?’ was the look Walter gave me.
We cautiously exited the car and went in to confront Dr. Allen. I figured I would certainly not be center of attention in the burden of blame. I mean this was a school that still used the paddle. No one got paddled as far as I know in this case. I think Walter was grounded forever. I did see him years later at a High School reunion – – our 10th — and we laughed about the whole thing. At that time Walter was working as a DJ at, you guessed it, the very same radio station where I won the yellow record.
The yellow record I no longer have. But I still have the memories.
One group I absolutely enjoyed during my college years was the Pretenders led by Chrissy Hynde. As I posted my Kinks timeout yesterday, I recollected that she and Ray Davies were at one time married.
If you saw my list (scroll down to find) you will see my write-up on Smith (or a Group Called Smith). They didn’t achieve the fame of the Pretenders but they are similar in that both sang well fronted a male band, and did great with rockers as well as ballads. Here’s Middle of the Road:
In the middle of the road you see the darnedest things Like fat guys driving ’round in jeeps through the city Wearing big diamond rings and silk suits Past corrugated tin shacks full up with kids Oh man I don’t mean a Hampstead nursery When you own a big chunk of the bloody third world The babies just come with the scenery
Underrated Artists: The Kinks, Randall Bramblett: The Kinks are pioneers and will go down in history, I’m not worried about that. But they almost ended up like PJ Proby, who was kicked out of the UK; the Kinks were Kicked out of the US. Then they went through years of odd ball but deceptively good types of music and little sales. They are geniuses and geniuses sometimes do odd ball things. The Kinks were not like everybody else. Bramblett is an Athens, Ga., guy before it was cool, pre-Pylon, Love Tractor, REM, etc. He’s played with the Allmans, Widespread Panic and the Atlanta Rhythm Section. He was a co-founder of the seminal rock/jazz group Sea Level, and is known as a musician’s musician. He has a few solo albums. Check out the album ‘That Other Mile’ if you can find it.
Underrated Albums: The Cars ‘Panorama,’ Neil Young ‘Zuma,’ Panorama was panned by critics because it didn’t sound like regular Cars music. Well I was sick of regular Cars music and found that the more dissonant and experimental Panorama was excellent. Zuma sets you up thinking it’s going to be another acoustic strum-up thumbsucker, then lulls you into toe-tapping sing-songs like ‘Don’t Cry No Tears’ before slashing you to shreds with the electric guitar turned up to 10 and one-half with a slab of feedback. Cortez will never be the same.
Underrated Songs: Feargal Sharkey ‘You Little Thief’” Tom Waits’ ‘Down in the Hole’ Big-voiced Feargall Sharkey played in a New Wave punk band called the Undertones that was quite good in its genre. He broke away and knocked out a few minor hits like this one and faded away. A little over-produced maybe, but the song sticks and is sung hard by Sharkey. And it’s eminently danceable. Waits is a growly gravelly voiced bar player. He’s been trying to cough up something for 30 years. I love this song about the devil.
And now two local bands that are underrated. By that I mean they should be nationally known. The music industry like the journalism biz has changed quite a bit. Not sure the young-uns in theBrummiesand Lee Bains and the Glory Fires want a 59-year-old man with dementia as their cheerleader, but I’ve seen both play, I have a vinyl record from each, Lee Bains and the Glory Fires live at the Nick and I have the Brummies ‘Eternal Reach.’
Based on my rating scale of Perry Como to the Ray Coniff singers….er, sorry wrong albums.
Actually let’s make this simple. My rating scale is the Beatles. Glory Fires are John Lennon and the Brummies Paul McCartney. Gotta love them both. (Hmmm, maybe if we put them together for a gig …..?)
This one is ‘7 underrated songs.” Already published on MyVinylCountdown.com are 7 underrated artists and 7 underrated albums.
Full story with all the lists plus more will appear on AL.com over the weekend.
Smithereens ‘Behind the Wall of
Sleep’ This is just straight head rock and roll from a great band. But
while the song was played in its day (late 1980s), you don’t hear it much anymore.
It’s as good as rock and roll gets people.
UFO ‘Can you Roll Her’
UFO was called a heavy metal band because of the instant shredding guitarist
Michael Schenker could put forth at any given time. However songs off this
album such as Belladonna and Martian Landscape showed softer, tuneful, side. This
song ‘Can you roll her’ showed both a tuneful touch with the guitar power rock
that was the band’s staple.
Squeeze ‘Pulling Mussels
from a Shell’ This conjures up a summer beach setting, but there’s
something going on behind the chalet? I’m not 100 percent sure what it is or
what it has to do with mussels, but I have long liked the song. (And I love mussels
from a shell).
Tina Turner Better Be Good to Me Tina Turner was a longtime R&B singer with her husband Ike whom she said beat her and abused her. When she broke out in the 1980s with a solo album and the worldwide hit ‘What’s Love Got to Do with It,’ she was a superstar. But while Better be Good to Me was a hit, it seemed overshadowed by others including What’s Love Got to Do with It. ‘Better be Good to Me’ was the stronger song, powerful rock and roll sung by one of the best entertainers ever, who sang from real life pain and passion. Underrated? Many would say no. I say yes it is so.
Steve Harley’s ‘Make me Smile (Come
Up and See Me)’ I discovered this on a British Rock compilation and then
realized I had a live Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel double album obtained at a
flea market that had a live version of the song. What a great catchy song. The
pause for effect part is genius. The acoustic guitar solo is cool. The
over-the-top Dylan imitation is also groovy.
Waterboys ‘Whole of the Moon”
The Waterboys could have been on Underrated Artists list. They put out a really
nice body of water, er, work. Mike Scott was the driver of this band, which did
nice work with a core band that used a lot of violin, saxophones, trumpets and piano
in addition to guitar. Best album is probably ‘This is the Sea’ although I
really like ‘A Pagan’s Place’ as well, which really introduced the band as one
that plays ‘Big Music.’ “Whole of
the Moon,’ with its upfront piano, sounds like a timeless classic. Maybe it
already is.
Lou Reed ‘Strawman’ An angry sing-along about corruption in the world. Lou Reed is not underrated I’d say, but given his long career, he had few radio hits. Radio stations must be afraid of him. Of course there was the anomaly ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ which falls in the ‘Lola’ basket – it may be controversial but it has a tune that just won’t be denied.
Here’s the second part as promised:The Top 7 most Underrated Albums in my collection of 678. I know this is subjective but I have the insight of living with these records a long time.
FRIDAY/SATURDAY: All lists in one story for AL.com
Rockpile ‘Seconds of Pleasure’ (feat./Nick
Lowe and Dave Edmunds) This is just easy to listen to,
even easy to dance to. It sounds like fresh and rock and Roll every time you
listen even though much of it harkens back to 1950s-60s rockabilly sound. This is
a party record. Key songs ‘Teacher
Teacher,’ ‘Play that Fast thing (One More Time),’ ‘Pet You and Hold You,’ and ‘When I Write the Book.’
The Undisputed Truth –Contemporary 70s soul music, mostly covers reinterpreted. A deconstructed ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ and a blowout psychedelic ‘Ball of Confusion are highlights. Oh yeah, and the enjoyable paranoid classic ‘Smiling Faces Sometimes.’ That was their only original song on the album of covers, produced for Motown by Norman Whitfield. Another bargain bin find. They also do a funked up version of ‘I Heard it Through the Grapevine.’
Spencer Davis/PeterJameson ‘It’s Been So Long.´ I have to say this is one of the great lost
albums. You can’t find it hardly anywhere. No traces of it on YouTube.
Amazon and EBay have some copies, last
one I checked was $40 bucks. I don’t need it, I have a good condition vinyl but
I really wanted to link to some music just to give you, my readers a taste. It
is an acoustical classic. If I, just before I die could go to a bar or any small
venue and have Spencer Davis and Peter Jameson play this album from top to
bottom I’d know there was a heaven and I’d be in it. I had never heard of this
understated beautiful record until last year, when I found it in a bargain bin
for $1. I picked it because it looked interesting and I knew Davis to be a
pioneer in blues rock in the UK during the 1960s, behind such well known songs
as ‘I’m a Man’ and “Gimme Some Loving.” This is the kind of find that makes
bargain bin hunting so rewarding. Yes it mellow. It is soul music. I just don’t
know what to tell you to do to get a listen.
Jared Mees ‘Life is Long’ This is new vinyl (2016), which I don’t have a lot of because of its expense. But my sister from Portland sent me this and said the record store clerk thought I’d like this after she told him the kind of music I liked. The clerk made an awesome pick. This is funny, poignant, tuneful and smart. Hard to put in a category but I’d call it alternative folk. (From Portland. That explains something, no?) Blue Angels is a pretty song, but makes me wonder – do they do that? The Angel pilots? Other songs of brilliance: Life is Long; and Echo Chamber.
Neutral Milk Hotel ‘In the Aeroplane Over the Sea’ Some of my alternative universe friends would argue with me calling it underrated. Heck it is revered by record store workers across the globe. But for every NMH worshiper there are millions who have never heard about this eccentric gut-wrenching record inspired by the Diary of Anne Frank. (And a few who just don’t get it.) Here’s the title song. When I first heard the album and picked up the powerful subtle references to Anne Frank, I wept. Just a little.
The lead singer and songwriter Jeff
Magnum and band worked out of my town, Athens, Ga., for a while. Leading to the
cult status of this record, Magnum made
himself super scarce after this record hit (probably all digital in 1997).
‘Found’ living in NYC, Magnum was cornered for an interview in which he said he
didn’t know if he would ever record again. This is really one of those you have to listen to the whole album as it
is all tied together. But here’s some
key songs: ‘Two-headed Boy’ – The story
is that Magnum recorded this song all in one take to the astonishment of those
in the studio. Also ‘King of Carrot Flowers.’
Richard and Linda Thompson ‘Shoot out the Lights.’ Depression, used properly, can be helpful to artists, if they can reach deep down inside of it, wallow in it and come out like a newly born infant, soggy and screaming. The album, ‘Shoot Out the Lights,’ recorded when the couple Richard and Linda were breaking up is depressing and cathartic. The saddest great rock and folk album of all time. Just look at some of the song titles: ‘Did she Jump or was She Pushed,’ ‘Wall of Death,’ ‘Walking on a Wire,’ and ‘Don’t Renege on our Love.’ Whew. But Linda’s voice is in top form and Richard’s guitar playing is as unusual in that it has its own voice. A voice that says stop, listen, hear what I’m going to say next.
Lyric: I’m walking on a wire, I’m
walking on a wire and I’m falling.
PJ Proby ‘Enigma’ This album is aptly named. The big burly Rock and Roller who looked and sounded like Elvis Presley and at one time had stage roles as Elvis and Roy Orbison. He is from Texas and his stepsister dated Elvis. He never made it big in the U.S. as a rocker or a silky voiced crooner a la some kind of Tom Jones Elvis amalgam, with a touch of Englebert Humperdink. But in Britain, they loved him. At least the people did. He kept splitting his pants – yes you read that right – he would split his pants after some stage-hopping caterwauling and the crowd would go wild. The country’s Committee on Moral Standards (Or something like that) ultimately kicked him out of the country. His wild career included a stint with the Dutch progressive hard rock band called Focus, on an album called Focus con Proby. Hocus Pocus was the mostly instrumental band known for its electrifying yodels on the earlier hit Hocus Pocus. This album, Enigma, from 1967 features his minor hit ‘Niki Hoeky,’ This song was also covered by Bobbi Gentry in a sultry performance on a TV show.
He also has a nice cover of the Rolling Stones penned song–Out of Time.’– that charted on Chris Farlowe’s version. Proby, whose voice could be Elvis, Little Richard and Wilson Pickett, chose the fat Elvis as his model with a slice of Humperdink and a dash of Tom Jones. He really never found himself. I have to say though: I am a fan. I have three records — want more.
Van Morrison wrote a song called ‘Whatever Happened to PJ Proby.” They sang it together, see here.
Here’s the second part as promised:The Top 7 most Underrated Albums in my collection of 678. I know this is subjective but I have the insight of living with these records a long time.
FRIDAY/SATURDAY: All lists in one story for AL.com
Rockpile ‘Seconds of Pleasure’ (feat./Nick
Lowe and Dave Edmunds) This is just easy to listen to,
even easy to dance to. It sounds like fresh and rock and Roll every time you
listen even though much of it harkens back to 1950s-60s rockabilly sound. This is
a party record. Key songs ‘Teacher
Teacher,’ ‘Play that Fast thing (One More Time),’ ‘Pet You and Hold You,’ and ‘When I Write the Book.’
The Undisputed Truth –Contemporary 70s soul music, mostly covers reinterpreted. A deconstructed ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ and a blowout psychedelic ‘Ball of Confusion are highlights. Oh yeah, and the enjoyable paranoid classic ‘Smiling Faces Sometimes.’ That was their only original song on the album of covers, produced for Motown by Norman Whitfield. Another bargain bin find. They also do a funked up version of ‘I Heard it Through the Grapevine.’
Spencer Davis/PeterJameson ‘It’s Been So Long.´ I have to say this is one of the great lost albums. You can’t find it hardly anywhere. No traces of it on YouTube. Amazon and EBay have some copies, last one I checked was $40 bucks. I don’t need it, I have a good condition vinyl but I really wanted to link to some music just to give you, my readers, a taste. It is an acoustical classic. If I, just before I die could go to a bar or any small venue and have Spencer Davis and Peter Jameson play this album from top to bottom I’d know there was a heaven and I’d be in it. I had never heard of this understated beautiful record until last year, when I found it in a bargain bin for $1. I picked it because it looked interesting and I knew Davis to be a pioneer in blues rock in the UK during the 1960s, behind such well known songs as ‘I’m a Man’ and “Gimme Some Loving.” This is the kind of find that makes bargain bin hunting so rewarding. Yes it mellow. It is soul music. I just don’t know what to tell you to do to get a listen.
Jared Mees ‘Life is Long’ This is new vinyl (2016), which I don’t have a lot of because of its expense. But my sister from Portland sent me this and said the record store clerk thought I’d like this after she told him the kind of music I liked. The clerk made an awesome pick. This is funny, poignant, tuneful and smart. Hard to put in a category but I’d call it alternative folk. (From Portland. That explains something, no?) Blue Angels is a pretty song, but makes me wonder – do they do that? The Angel pilots? Other songs of brilliance: Life is Long; and Echo Chamber.
Neutral Milk Hotel ‘In the Aeroplane Over the Sea’ Some of my alternative universe friends would argue with me calling it underrated. Heck it is revered by record store workers across the globe. But for every NMH worshiper there are millions who have never heard about this eccentric gut-wrenching record inspired by the Diary of Anne Frank. (And a few who just don’t get it.) Here’s the title song. When I first heard the album and picked up the powerful subtle references to Anne Frank, I wept. Just a little.
The lead singer and songwriter Jeff
Magnum and band worked out of my town, Athens, Ga., for a while. Leading to the
cult status of this record, Magnum made
himself super scarce after this record hit (probably all digital in 1997).
‘Found’ living in NYC, Magnum was cornered for an interview in which he said he
didn’t know if he would ever record again. This is really one of those you have to listen to the whole album as it
is all tied together. But here’s some
key songs: ‘Two-headed Boy’ – The story
is that Magnum recorded this song all in one take to the astonishment of those
in the studio. Also ‘King of Carrot Flowers.’
Richard and Linda Thompson ‘Shoot out the Lights.’ Depression, used properly, can be helpful to artists, if they can reach deep down inside of it, wallow in it and come out like a newly born infant, soggy and screaming. The album, ‘Shoot Out the Lights,’ recorded when the couple Richard and Linda were breaking up is depressing and cathartic. The saddest great rock and folk album of all time. Just look at some of the song titles: ‘Did she Jump or was She Pushed,’ ‘Wall of Death,’ ‘Walking on a Wire,’ and ‘Don’t Renege on our Love.’ Whew. But Linda’s voice is in top form and Richard’s guitar playing is as unusual in that it has its own voice. A voice that says stop, listen, hear what I’m going to say next.
Lyric: I’m walking on a wire, I’m
walking on a wire and I’m falling.
PJ Proby ‘Enigma’ This album is aptly named. The big burly Rock and Roller who looked and sounded like Elvis Presley and at one time had stage roles as Elvis and Roy Orbison. He is from Texas and his stepsister dated Elvis. He never made it big in the U.S. as a rocker or a silky voiced crooner a la some kind of Tom Jones Elvis amalgam, with a touch of Englebert Humperdink. But in Britain, they loved him. At least the people did. He kept splitting his pants – yes you read that right – he would split his pants after some stage-hopping caterwauling and the crowd would go wild. The country’s Committee on Moral Standards (Or something like that) ultimately kicked him out of the country. His wild career included a stint with the Dutch progressive hard rock band called Focus, on an album called Focus con Proby. Hocus Pocus was the mostly instrumental band known for its electrifying yodels on the earlier hit Hocus Pocus. This album, Enigma, from 1967 features his minor hit ‘Niki Hoeky,’ This song was also covered by Bobbi Gentry in a sultry performance on a TV show.
He also has a nice cover of the Rolling Stones penned song–Out of Time.’– that charted on Chris Farlowe’s version. Proby, whose voice could be Elvis, Little Richard and Wilson Pickett, chose the fat Elvis as his model with a slice of Humperdink and a dash of Tom Jones. He really never found himself. I have to say though: I am a fan. I have three records — want more.
Van Morrison wrote a song called ‘Whatever Happened to PJ Proby.” They sang it together, see here.
Top 7 most underrated songs in MyVinylCountdown.com collecti
TODAY: The Top 7 Most underrated artists in my collection of 678-plus records
I’ll say it out front. This is a list
story.
You know how much news sites love lists.
You know why?
Because you, my readers love lists. This
time we are going 7X7X7.
That means: Three lists, with 7 spots each. I feel lucky. I am starting No. 1 of 3 today on my blog. I will smooth it all into one long story for AL.com by the weekend end.
FRIDAY/SATURDAY: All lists in one story for AL.com
The collection I have been using on my
website, www.myvinylcountdown.com
to raise awareness to my fatal brain disease, Lewy body dementia. As I count them down, I stop now and again to
write something different or pull out a story like this. The rules are simple.
I make the picks. I can’t have any one artist on more than one list. John Hiatt
does not qualify because I wrote an earlier post pretty much anointing him the
most underrated artists of the 1980s.
I will provide links, please listen to the music, especially if you haven’t heard it. When we talk about underrated we are mostly dealing with folks that have lower name recognition but deserve better. But a band of renown could have an underrated song or album, for example. Also worth noting that since these are from my vinyl records, there’s a good chance that most will be older music from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, although there are some exceptions involving cases where I bought new vinyl. So here we go.
The Top 7 Underrated Artists from MyVinylCountdown.com
Tonio K. – Those who know me well won’t be surprised at this choice. Tonio K. aka as Steve Krikorian debuted with Life in the Foodchain, a punky, intelligent tour de force in 1978. It is a legitimate classic with the title song, Funky Western Civilization and H-A-T-R-E-D, <Note language in that song that may be objectionable to some>standing out. The rest of his body of work is excellent as he followed Foodchain with an almost equally angry album “Amerika’ and later some spiritually infused albums with songs like ‘You Will Go Free’ that, with exceptions, deep-sixed the anger — but let fly intelligent, socially conscious music elevated by great writing.
Excerpt:‘ Funky Western Civilization’
They put Jesus on a cross; they put a hole in JFK; they put Hitler in the driver’s seat and looked the other way; Now we got poison in the water; and the whole world is in a trance; but just because we’re hypnotized don’t mean we can’t dance.
(Queue Dick Dale chicken scratch guitar and a river of melodic metal by Earl Slick and Albert Lee.)
(2) 10cc — A British band that walked a fine line between art school pretension and brilliant pop songs. The music is full of biting satire, irony and good playing. The album ‘100cc 10cc’ is a compilation of early songs that is top-notch from top to bottom, including Rubber Bullets and the Wall Street Shuffle. Later they had some well-known singles, ‘I’m Not in Love,’ ‘Dreadlock Holiday’and ‘’Things We Do For Love.’ But they never rose to levels expected given the talent here. They probably lost the cool crowd with the high charting bubble-gummy ‘Things We Do for Love.” They had to pay the rent you know, but some of their work such as the record ‘How Dare You’ experimented with jazzy, multi-layered sophisticated sound and sharp as a stiletto lyrics. Queen, though brasher and more theatrical, was influenced by this band.
(3) War — The band had some hits. Cisco Kid, Low Rider, Why Can’t We Be Friends. Those first two were some of the best songs on Top 40 radio at the time. ‘Friends’ was just kind of a ditty. Those who heard only the radio and didn’t get the albums were missing out on an extremely tight funk/jazz/rock band. I don’t think they ever got their due as true pioneers, perhaps overshadowed by Earth Wind and Fire, Parliament, and Sly and the Family Stone. But they could jam like the best of friends in songs like ‘Smile Happy‘ and ‘Four Cornered Room.’ BTW my two old War albums have terrific sound with a heavy bottom as this music needs.
(4) Gayle McCormick/A Group Called Smith
McCormick had the kind of voice that made you marvel where it came from, powerful as a bullhorn when she sang ballads and straight ahead blues and rock and roll. Despite her obvious break-out talent, with Smith (and a Group Called Smith after legal conflicts with another group — and, no it was not the Morissey group that came much later out of the UK.) The group and McCormick scored big with a song “Baby It’s You,” later picked by Quentin Tarantino to be used in ‘Pulp Fiction.’
She went on to record a couple of albums that are hard to find. I got a used copy of her first solo album which has some decent covers of popular songs such as ‘Superstar’ and ‘You Really Got a Hold of Me.’
The two Smith group albums, however, should be better known. There’s good hard rock and roll on these. Highlights: ‘Tell Him No,’ ‘Last Time,’ Let’s Get Together,’ ‘What Am I Gonna Do‘ and ‘Take a Look Around.‘ Oh and did I mention there’s some nasty organ and dirty horns on these, not to mention a bass player who gets under the songs and lifts..
(5) Peter Himmelman (Solo; Sussman Lawrence)
OK get the ‘newsy’ thing out of the way, his wife is Bob Dylan’s adopted daughter. On to the music which Catherine, my wife, and I would agree has been at many times the soundtrack of our lives — from Mission of my Soul to Rich Men Run the World ; from Woman With The Strength of 10,000 Men‘ to The Boat that Carries Us; From Raina (beloved Raina) to Angels Die.
When Peter learned I had Lewy body dementia, he sent me three vinyls of his music. Listening right now to ‘Fear is Our Undoing.‘ Brilliant song off of the brilliant record ‘There is no Calamity.’ )
A Minnesotan by birth now in California, Himmelman played in an indie band called Sussman Lawrence before going solo. He has been nominated for a Grammy for a children’s album and has written music for several TV shows. His songs are great and I can hear between the notes and words a search for that elusive truth that connects us.
(6) Ronnie Lane (Small Faces, Faces, solo)
Ronnie Lane was an elfin man with a lilting voice that worked to perfection when he was harmonizing, Lane embodied happy music, and yes probably happy hour music. He played his long necked electric bass like he was hugging a woman taller than he was.
The bass player was a founding member of Small Faces and Faces, two highly influential rock bands. ItchyKoo Park and All or Nothing were sizeable hits, at least overseas. And Ooh La La is a classic.
Listen to his music and try not to smile. You’d follow him out to the country side and he would lead like the pied piper to his dilapidated country farm. When Steve Marriott left Small Faces, Rod Stewart joined. Because the band’s name was based on Lane’s and other group members’ stature — they were all under 5-foot-5, they dropped the ‘Small’ when the 6-footer Stewart joined. Faces.
In addition to his fabulous singing and writing and playing with both Faces incarnations, he also had successful collaborations with Ron Wood (Mahoney’s Last Stand) and Pete Townshend solidifying his status as a top-notch collaborator and creator. The songs ‘Stone,’ ‘The Poacher’ and ‘Brother Can you Spare a Dime’ are standouts on his Ronnie Lane’s Slim Chance album, which I have. (I also have Mahoney’s and Rough Mix plus lots of Small Faces and Faces, including the experimental concept album Ogden’s Gone Nut Flake.) The beautiful song ‘Annie‘ was one of the best on his Townshend project ‘Rough Mix. After battling Multiple Sclerosis for 21 years, Lane died in 1997 at 51.
(7)Joseph Arthur (Solo, Joseph Arthur and the Astronauts)
It’s hard to describe this prolific musician other than to say he’s been writing some of the best songs of the millennium. But there seems to be a million of ’em. His latest — or probably not latest at this point — but a recent one teaming up with REM’s Peter Buck. The album, ‘Arthur Buck,’ approaches ear weevil stages at about the fourth listen. It’s good and gets better the more you listen and figure out what’s going on. Arthur has a good two decades behind him. I’ve seen him in concert a couple of times in the SF Bay Area and he’s the real deal. As I said, he has so many great songs including, ‘In the Sun,’ in which he recorded several versions, one featuring REM’s Michael Stipe and the other featuring Coldplay’s Chris Martin — all for Hurricane Katrina relief. Other songs that he’s known for include ‘Honey and Moon,’ ‘Temporary People,‘ and ‘The Smile that Explodes, ‘I Miss the Zoo‘ and ‘Say Goodbye.’ Albums include. ‘Nuclear Daydreams,’ ‘Redemption Son,’ and ‘The Ballad of Boogie Christ.’ He is well worth exploring because even if you run into songs you don’t like if you keep looking you’ll find something that will change your life — or, at least, your week. And one close to my heart, a tribute to Robin Williams.
I know I have promised by today to publish my personal strategies for beating Lewy body dementia. I may finish today. But I may not.
In the meantime I just posted my 11th chapter in a serial story which is pretty much a parody of dystopian stories, which I feel like are almost by definition are parodies or satire.
Scene: The Ocala People’s Forest in which lies Alexander Springs. Prosby tries to get to the portal in his efforts to go Underground to rescue Burneese. But dangers, such as lightning fast gators and the killer Abe Lincoln robot await.
Prosby was on high alert now. He’s was lucky to get out Boybando, even though he believed he could have killed Justy with two well placed blows. He was walking the old 441 highway under a misty dark day. It was always a dark day these days, but this one was particularly dark. He passed Zellwood. He got close enough to Lake Apopka to smell it.
And hear the gators.
The gators over the decades had adapted to the algae choked body of water full of bones and submerged cars. They were smaller than the 10-footers you used to see there. But they were twice as quick and had more endurance when running.
A good 5 or 6
-foot gator could top out at 25 mph for
about 40 yards. The old way to escape a running gator was to serpentine, run
side-to-side while continuing to go forward. The old big -300-pound-beasts beasts
couldn’t follow the cuts and wore out after about 15 yards. But over hundreds
of years there were fewer of the slower, big birds to catch and gators evolved
to catch the smaller faster ones. Also squirrels, racoons, wild dogs and the
occasional stupid human.
These new ones could catch you at about the 15 or 20-yard mark, bite off your foot so you couldn’t go anywhere, and drag you by your remaining foot to the lake . There they would submerge you in the water and let you rot for a few days in the pea-soup of a lake until the flesh fell off the bone – kind of like a cross between pulled pork and rotten sushi.
Prosby scanned the dark wooded area near the lakefront for the orange orbits that signal shiny gator eyes Seeing none, he kept walking.
The Ocala People’s Forest was no place to let your guard down as he passed by the towns of Eustis and Umatilla. On the fringes of the forest in makeshift shacks lived drug makers who constantly fought each other, the meth makers versus the psychedelics producers who had a symbiotic relationship with the forest people, the descendants of generations of Hippies, societal dropouts who have camped in the forest for hundreds of years — and always stayed one step ahead of the law, both local and federal. They lived deep in the enormous forest and at any given spot they were watching you – you couldn’t see them, but they could see you.
Prosby heard a voice, deep, forceful, robotic.
“Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field …”
It was Abe Lincoln the DIzney Bot. The killer Dizney bot walked like Frankenstein out of a dense wooded area into the clearing about 20 yards from Prosby. The Lincoln bot droned on.
“We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives, that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground.‘
Prosby noticed
the bot didn’t really have hands – but at the end of one arm was an 18-inch
dagger, and on the other was a small whirling circular saw that he kept turning
off and on. WHHHRRRR WHRRRR.
The bot was
walking at quite a pace toward Prosby.
Prosby tried engaging. “Hey Abe, whassup? Nice morning to recite the Gettysburg Address, no:?’
Honest Abe didn’t
appear to be lying when he said, “I am programmed to kill you and I will kill
you.”
Prosby knew the portal – Alexander Springs — was about 100 yards into the thick wooded area where the bot had just emerged. He figured better now than ever and decided against running away. He would run, taking an arc around the bot, dive into the spring and make it to the portal. Getting inside the portal required a rather deep swim downward. You have to able to hold your breath for at least a minute to break on through to the other side.
Prosby ran.
The bot followed, stiffly but swiftly still speechifying:
“The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.”
Prosby saw the still waters of the spring and heard the WHHRRR behind him. There was little pain as the circular saw sliced into Prosby’s back like an electric knife carving a Thanksgiving turkey. It was a non lethal wound Prosby thought. Defense was on his mind. He turned about 10 feet from the water to face the fake Abraham Lincoln who was running and winding up to do more carving. With the whirring buzzsaw advancing swiftly toward Prosby’s face, he dropped to the ground on his sliced-up back and placed both feet firmly in the 250-pound life-sized robot’s midsection and pushed. Using the bot’s momentum against him, he pushed his legs like a squat sending Abe catapulting through the air. The bot completed a spectacular full flip before landing feet first in the spring.
Oh yeah. Prosby
remembered with a smile, you never see Dizney bots swimming. In fact full
submersion fries the bot’s circuits. Sparks shot out like Fourth of July fireworks.
Abe thrashed around before slowly sinking like a melting witch.
The robot died
gurgling the words of a long ago president who dreamed a dream for America.
That the evil of killing, brothers and sisters, will be somehow turned to good.
’… that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, (gurgle) under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the (gurgle) people, for the people, shall not perish from ..(gurgle) …(silence) …..”
“The earth.”
Posby finished the last two words as the robot sank into the springs like just another stolen car into Lake Apopka.
Prosby drifted into unconsciousness.
This is the 11th in a series. Meant to be read in ascending order from 1 to 11 ….
