My car trips tend to be short and so the ipod never gets its due. As a result I tend to stick to my subscription audio. My preference of late while cruising in my automobile is the funky and soulful Soul Town channel on Sirius/XM.
The other day as I delivered my boy to his preschool a piece of this beast spun up and I pulled over to the side of the road to let the track finish and give my boy a better education than anything he would have received in "circle time." The sinuous groove was greasy and unrelenting. My kid got funkier than any little aryan has a right to be in a carseat. All was right with the world.
'Firm it.
All Music:
Damn Right I Am Somebody captures the J.B.'s at the apex of their extraordinary powers. This James Brown-produced set is both their most fiercely polemical and their most musically daring, incorporating otherworldly electronic elements, eccentric time and rhythm shifts, and idiosyncratic studio effects to brilliantly articulate the increasing turmoil and insanity of the times. It's quite possibly the most challenging record ever released under the Brown aegis, favoring open-ended grooves and epic solos rooted in avant-jazz. The rhythms remain surgically precise and hypnotically intense, however, and every cut here, from the funk juggernaut "I'm Payin' Taxes, What Am I Buyin'?" to the righteously mellow "Same Beat," is a marvel. This is funk at its heaviest — musically, yes, but intellectually as well.
I've been unable to exorcise this record from my heavy rotation for the past few weeks. Something about summer and a heretofore under appreciated Dead studio record. On the advice of a trusted comrade and once stalwart committed head, I've dedicated the majority of my listenings to the live boots. I'm late to the Dead thing, having shun it in it's 2.0 and 3.0 versions in the 80s/90s due largely to the caliber hombre who called it their own. Confirmed: I can dick-out like that. The 80s burb hardcore kid in me wanted to take the jackboot to the peace/love/cardiologist daddy sect.
Okay so now I'm a straight 40, still kinda angry, kinda hypertensive, with kid and home and cat and an old car... I've been left with no alternatives - embrace it.
This record came out not too long after me and many of my friends were born. I won't claim that this has any cosmic significance other than to be a screen cap for the time.
All in all it's pretty much a brilliant record if only on the merits of Ripple alone.
Garcia hung on my wall as a young young kid. Just thought he looked wild and scary. Call it a full circle jerk?
Allmusic.com:A companion piece to the luminous Workingman's Dead, American Beauty is an even stronger document of the Grateful Dead's return to their musical roots. Sporting a more full-bodied and intricate sound than its predecessor thanks to the addition of subtle electric textures, the record is also more representative of the group as a collective unit, allowing for stunning contributions from Phil Lesh (the poignant opener, "Box of Rain") and Bob Weir ("Sugar Magnolia"); at the top of his game as well is Jerry Garcia, who delivers the superb "Friend of the Devil," "Candyman," and "Ripple." Climaxing with the perennial "Truckin'," American Beauty remains the Dead's studio masterpiece -- never again would they be so musically focused or so emotionally direct.
I listen to this while playing a surfing game on my iPhone. I'm usually more fulfilled than this.
Allmusic: Not the first but definitely the most popular rock instrumental combo, the Ventures scored several hit singles during the 1960s -- most notably "Walk-Don't Run" and "Hawaii Five-O" -- but made their name in the growing album market, covering hits of the day and organizing thematically linked LPs. Almost 40 Ventures' albums charted, and 17 hit the Top 40. And though the group's popularity in America virtually disappeared by the 1970s, their enormous contribution to pop culture was far from over; the Ventures soon became one of the most popular world-wide groups, with dozens of albums recorded especially for the Japanese and European markets. They toured continually throughout the 1970s and '80s -- influencing Japanese pop music of the time more than they had American music during the '60s.
The Ventures' origins lie in a Tacoma, Washington group called the Impacts. Around 1959, construction workers and hobby guitarists Bob Bogle and Don Wilson formed the group, gigging around Washington state and Idaho with various rhythm sections as backup. They recorded a demo tape, but after it was rejected by the Liberty Records subsidiary Dolton, the duo founded their own label, Blue Horizon. They released one vocal single ("Cookies and Coke"), then recruited bassist Nokie Edwards and drummer Skip Moore and decided to instead become an instrumental group.
The Ventures went into the studio in 1959 with an idea for a new single they had first heard on Chet Atkins' Hi Fi in Focus LP. Released on Blue Horizon in 1960, the single "Walk-Don't Run" became a big local hit after being aired as a news lead-in on a Seattle radio station (thanks to a friend with connections). In an ironic twist, Dolton Records came calling and licensed the single for national distribution; by summer 1960, it had risen to number two in the charts, behind only "It's Now or Never" by Elvis Presley. After Howie Johnson replaced Moore on drums, the Ventures began recording their debut album, unsurprisingly titled after their hit single.
Two singles, "Perfidia" and "Ram-Bunk-Shush," hit the Top 40 during 1960-61, but the Ventures soon began capitalizing on what became a trademark: releasing LPs which featured songs very loosely arranged around a theme implied in the title. The group's fourth LP, The Colorful Ventures, included "Yellow Jacket," "Red Top," "Orange Fire" and no less than three tracks featuring the word "blue" in the title. The Ventures put their indelible stamp on each style of '60s music they covered, and they covered many -- twist, country, pop, spy music, psychedelic, swamp, garage, TV themes. (In the '70s, the band moved on to funk, disco, reggae, soft rock and Latin music.) The Ventures' lineup changed slightly during 1962. Howie Johnson left the band, to be replaced by session man Mel Taylor; also, Nokie Edwards took over lead guitar with Bob Bogle switching to bass.
One of the few LPs not arranged around a theme became their best-selling; 1963's The Ventures Play Telstar, The Lonely Bull featured a cover of the number one instrumental hit by the British studio band the Tornadoes and produced by Joe Meek. Though their cover of "Telstar" didn't even chart, the album hit the Top Ten and became the group's first of three gold records. A re-write of their signature song -- entitled "Walk-Don't Run '64" -- reached number eight that year. By the mid-'60s however, the Ventures appeared to be losing their touch. Considering the volatility of popular music during the time, it was quite forgivable that the group would lose their heads-up knowledge of current trends in the music industry to forecast which songs should be covered. The television theme "Hawaii Five-O" hit number four in 1969, but the Ventures slipped off the American charts for good in 1972. Instead, the band began looking abroad for attention and -- in Japan especially -- they found it with gusto. After leaving Dolton/Liberty and founding their own Tridex Records label, the Ventures began recording albums specifically for the Japanese market. The group eventually sold over 40 million records in that country alone, becoming one of the biggest American influences on Japanese pop music ever.
Nokie Edwards left the Ventures in 1968 to pursue his interest in horse racing for a time, and was replaced by Gerry McGee; though he returned by 1972, Mel Taylor left the group that year for a solo career, to be replaced by Joe Barile. (Taylor returned also, in 1979.) By the early '80s, the Ventures' core quartet of Wilson, Bogle, Edwards and Taylor could boast of playing together for over 20 years. Though Edwards left the band for good in 1984 (replaced again by Gerry McGee) and Mel Taylor died mid-way through a Japanese tour in 1996 (replaced by his son Leon), the Ventures continued to pack venues around the world.
plus a bunch more for which no art liveth on the web
go look up any of these bands: crazy good stuff.
check out these smokin acts, for instance...
Ebony Rhythm Band
The Detroit Sex Machines
The Rhythm Machine
Hunt's Determination Band
The Kickin' Mustangs
TRACK LISTING
01. Symphonic Four - Who Do You Think You're Fooling Part 2 02. Lee Moses - Bad Girl Part 1 03. Ebony Rhythm Band - Drugs Ain't Cool 04. The King James Version - He's Coming 05. The Fabulous Originals - It Ain't Fair But It's Fun Part 1 06. Snooky Pryor - Boogie Twist 07. Otis Rush - Keep On Loving Me Baby 08. Sunnyland Slim - Highway 61 09. The Scott Singers - When The Saints Go Marching In 10. The Prophet and His Disciples - You Fool You Fool Part 2 11. The Detroit Sex Machines - The Stretch Part 1 12. The Kickin' Mustangs - Kickin' 13. Everyday People - Life 14. Darrell Banks - Beautiful Feeling 15. The New Concepts - Give Me Another Chance 16. Rhetta Hughes - You're Doing It With Her 17. The Charmaines - Smile 18. Brenda Holloway - Just Look What You've Done 19. The Valentinos - Sweeter Than The Day Before 20. Mel Britt - Love Invented Misery 21. Dave Hamilton - The Deacons 22. The Rhythm Machine - Freakish Love 23. Mr Gee and The Fifth Generation - We've Got a Funky Feeling Pt 1 24. Hunt's Determination Band - I Need Love Part 1 25. Oliver Sain - St. Louis Breakdown 26. Robert Lee and The Exquisites - Tears Are Falling 27. Robert Starks and The Geniuses - Space Traveling Part 1 28. Billy Ball and The Upsetters - Sissy Walk
Many years ago I lived in an apartment building filled with hipsters. One of my neighbors, Tom, promoted shows in Denver. Although he wasn't a big fan of the band, he got New Order booked for their first show in Denver - quite a coup. The big promoter in town (one of the biggest in the country) wanted the show and threatened him with a counter program the same night that assured he would lose his shirt if he didn't give them the contract. He caved - it wasn't a big deal to him. His only request was that they arrange to let him interview New Order for a zine he published. The big promoter said sure.
So the night of the show Tom ends up backstage totally shit-faced drunk. He sits down with the band in the green room, gets introductions out of the way, takes out his notebook, leans back in his chair, looks at the band and, with a wry smile, asks his first question: "What's blue and swings?"
There is a long silence, and then Bernard Sumner throws his hands in the air and storms out shouting, "Fuck off! Interview's over!!" His bandmates follow (though Peter Hook threatens to kick the shit out of Tom.) Tom just sits there laughing.
The big concert promoter's people are baffled and ask Tom what the hell was that about. Tom stops laughing and, packing up his notebook, says, "Well, what's blue and swings? Ian Curtis, of course."
Ian Curtis hung himself 30 years ago yesterday.
00 Ceremony (Soundcheck) 00 Decades (Soundcheck) 01 Ceremony 02 Shadowplay 03 A means to an end 04 Passover 05 New dawn fades 06 Twenty four hours 07 Transmission 08 Disorder 09 Isolation 10 Decades 11 Digital
My car trips tend to be short and so the ipod never gets its due. As a result I tend to stick to my subscription audio. My preference of late while cruising in my automobile is the funky and soulful Soul Town channel on Sirius/XM.
