Hope this next one increases your every desire by leaps & bounds.
Enjoy this & all that the future holds for each & every one,
NØ
UPDATE: This post was re-uploaded 01/12/2014. Enjoy, NØ.
As everyone sez around the Casa Nada this time of year, "What up, Dog?".
A gift for everyone from us.
Overlooked band’s best effort. Just cuz theys inalectyuals donenot mean they cain’t FUNK!
What up, Dawg?
UPDATE: This post was re-uploaded 08/11/2013. Enjoy, NØ
Sweeping across the wheat fields of Manitoba, Canada blown by the winds of hard-rock that was rearing its head in the late 60s - early 70s, The Guess Who took America & the rest of the world by storm. "American Woman" was the first #1 hit by a Canadian group since The Crew Cuts hit the top with 1954s "Sh-Boom".
This selection goes out to my friend Jonder, who brought up the current epitome of American Womanhood, Kim Kardashian. After years of pencil-thin waifs & heroin-chic skeletons, it’s nice to drool over a curvaceous cutey. This post is dedicated to the two of them
The Guess Who, in their fourth incarnation on this album, were: Burton Cummings - keyboards, vocals, guitar, & harmonica; Randy Bachman - guitar; Jim Kale - bass; & Garry Peterson - drums.
UPDATE: This post was re-uploaded 12/07/2013. Enjoy, NØ.
I was going to post up Bloodrock 2 just because it contains the great proto-metal masterpiece "D.O.A." but Bloodrock’s debut album is in my opinion a better album overall. It is a dark heavy album with drummer Jim Rutledge singing songs of great lyrical imagery, with Steve Hill’s mesmerizing swirling organ, & Lee Pickens’ fiery guitar lines.
Emerging from Texas in 1969, Bloodrock prove that good ol' Southern boys could rock as good as any English band at the time. At times, the interplay of guitar & organ reminds a bit of Ritchie Blackmore & Jon Lord in Deep Purple except that Lee Pickens is a more soulful guitar player than Ritchie Blackmore, possibly one of the most underrated guitar players of his era.
UPDATE: This post was re-uploaded 08/22/2013. Enjoy, NØ.
There was one band that I saw at Winterland even more than Humble Pie. Bill Graham would stick them on any bill that needed another band & a little wake-up-the-crowd musick.
That was Montrose.
They seem to have been lost in the 70s history rewrite, especially when other American hard rock bands like Grand Funk Railroad & Aerosmith have gained much more (undeserved) exposure.
I would really like to post up Jump On It just because of all the testosterone-laced memories it brings up. That cover gives the 'Red Rocker' new meaning. Brother, that’s no camel-toe.
But, fact is, Montrose' self-titled first album is a greater hard rock album. Ronnie Montrose is a talented virtuoso guitarist who had a vision...a vision to rock & to rock hard.
Released in 1973, this record introduced a young Sammy Hagar to the world, but the explosive aggression of Ronnie Montrose's biting guitar left no doubt as to why the band was thusly named. Then there is the rock-solid rhythm section featuring drummer Denny Carmassi & bassist Bill Church.
Songs like "Rock the Nation" & "Good Rockin' Tonight" lay the ground rules for an entire generation of late-70s California bands. But it was the sheer euphoria of "Bad Motor Scooter," the adolescent nastiness of "Rock Candy," & the gargantuan riffage of the phenomenal stand-out tune "Space Station #5" that propelled this slab o' vinyl. If this musick doesn’t rock you, then you’re rock done rolled away. You better go find it, zombi.
UPDATE: This post was re-uploaded 11/25/2013. Enjoy, NØ.
Whenever I say Procol Harum to anyone, they always give one of two responses..."A Whiter Shade of Pale" or "Conquistador".
I think??? Robin Trower...Gary Brooker...Keith Reid & two albums that if you haven’t heard, then you don’t know jack...er,Procol Harum. 1968s Shine On Brightly & 1970s Home.
I am constantly torn trying to decide which one I like the best. I think Shine On right now, but I’m posting Home nonetheless.
“I’ll blacken your Christmas & piss on your door. You’ll cry for mercy, but still there’ll be more.”
Procol Harum 1970: Robin Trower - guitar; Gary Brooker - vocals & piano; Chris Copping - bass & organ; & B.J. Wilson - drums. Lyrics by Keith Reid, music by Brooker or Trower. Produced by Chris Thomas.
UPDATE: This post was re-uploaded 10/05/2013. Enjoy, NØ.
I’ve been listening to a lot of my old (late 60s - early/mid 70s) vinyl. I’ve been driving everyone here at Casa Nada totally bonkers. Decided to pass it on to you. I’ve been going through Traffic (from Mr. Fantasy through Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory), Deep Purple (mainly In Rock), Procol Harum (Shine on Brightly & Home), Free (Heartbreaker), Thin Lizzy (everything from their self-titled first through Bad Reputation), Nazareth (especially Hair of the Dog), Vanilla Fudge (the first four), Ten Years After (from Ssssh through A Space in Time)...well, you get the idea...clean rock, great guitars, lotsa hair.
I never know where to start, exactly, when I get on one of these weird tangents.
I have decided to start with the second album from the much overlooked solo career of one great guitar-slinger, Mick Ronson, ex-Spider from Mars. Mick at first wanted to be a music teacher, but the likes of Jeff Beck, whom he idolized & strove to emulate in his own guitar stylings, filled Ronno's young mind with secret dreams of rock stardom.
Mick played in the obligatory rock (Voices) & soul (Wanted) groups before joining the Rats, a Yardbirds-like r&b unit. They had a few singles on UK Decca & Oriole, but broke up after an ill-fated European tour.
1970.
Enter one David Jones, now not wanting to be confused with Davy Jones of the Monkees & calling himself David Bowie. Ronson signed on as guitarist for Bowie’s new project, brought along friend & ex-Rats drummer Woody Woodmansey & proceeded to create the classic The Man Who Sold the World. After the session, Ronno was again out of work.
Mick was close to calling it quits as a professional musician when Bowie called once more. Mick returned to London with Woodmansey & yet another ex-Rat, bassist Trevor Bolder. They began the sessions for Bowie's brilliant follow-up album Hunky Dory(1971). With the ouster of long-time Bowie co-hort Tony Visconti, Mick took over on the production as well, doing the arrangements for many of the songs, which favored strings, piano & horns.
With this kind of momentum, the ex-Rats were no longer just session musicians, but were finally a band again, becoming the Spiders from Mars. They followed Hunky Dory with The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars. Bowie’s exceptional songwriting & charismatic stage presence were undeniable, but equally crucial was the album’s truly unique sound, which again, as on Hunky Dory, combined strings, keyboards, & acoustic guitars with a crunching rock power trio. Mick Ronson was responsible for that sound. He co-arranged the entire album & performed all the keyboard parts as well as filling his usual role as the guitar-slinger.
Ziggy Stardust’s glitter rock & polysexual decadence made superstars of Bowie & "the Spiders". Ronson, as leader of the Spiders became a star in his own right through several sold-out tours & follow-up work on Bowie's next two albums, Aladdin Sane & Pin Ups (both 1973). Then Bowie announced his "retirement" from the stage. Actually he only retired the band.
Mick didn’t stay retired long, quickly releasing two albums, the Ziggy-influenced Slaughter on 10th Avenue in 1974, followed the next year by the more straight-ahead Play Don't Worry.
He then donned numerous hats: joined Mott the Hoople as guitarist; then when Hoople broke up, he partnered with Ian Hunter for Hunter’s next five solo albums; toured with Hunter in the Hunter-Ronson band; did session work with Kinky Friedman, Pure Prairie League, Genya Ravan, Ellen Foley, Slaughter & the Dogs, & John Cougar (Mellencamp); played guitar in Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue; where he hooked up with Roger McGuinn for the Cardiff Rose album; Ronno also worked as producer for the likes of David Johansen, Morrissey, Iron City Houserockers, the Payolas, & Glen Matlock’s post-Sex Pistols The Rich Kids.
Mick was working on his third solo album when he died of cancer on April 29, 1993 . The result was the posthumous Heaven & Hull.
Although Slaughter on 10th Avenue is probably his most well-known non-Bowie work, my personal favorite is this album, his second solo release from 1975. The album starts off with "Billy Porter" on which Ronson plays all of the instruments himself, showcasing his multi-faceted talent, then goes into one of my favorite tracks, "Angel No. 9". On this song, Ronson’s fierce guitar playing is very up in the mix, highlighting his greatest talent, his sweet guitar chops.
Hope this was a good place to begin this retro-madness.
Last Saturday Lao Elanya, Black Dahlia, Guitar Mike & I ventured out in the worst downpour we’ve had in quite a few years, at times (near Vacaville) with zero visibility, to drop into the basement of San Francisco’s Cafe Du Nord to partake in the artistry that is the Legendary Pink Dots on their (unbelievable) 30th Anniversary tour.
Nothing could have kept NØ away.
Anyone familiar with this blog knows that I’m a LPD junkie, but honestly, it was the best show I’ve been to in years. Cafe Du Nord is always a great venue for LPD. Everyone in attendance was ready for some great entertainment. They were not denied. LPD played for nearly two hours & did two long encore sets without much begging (some begging, not too much). Words fail me, so I’ll let this approximation of their set speak for the band & my feeble attempt at review.
I will briefly add that Phil Knight (aka: The Silverman, Phil Harmonix) on keyboards, soundscapes, electronics devices, gadgets, technology; & Edward Ka-Spel (aka: Prophet Qa-Spel, Qa'Sepel, Che Banana, D'Archangel) on vocals, keyboards, devices, gadgets, interference, & premonitions work together as a finely tuned machine & new-comer Erik Drost was , as they say, a thunder of stringed things including acoustic, electric, bass & Hawaiian guitars. It was all lovingly presented by Raymond Steeg, LPD's long-serving mixing & engineering guru.
The Legendary Pink Dots - Cafe Du Nord, San Francisco, November 20,2010.
Endless Time
The More it Changes The More it Stays the Same
Waiting for the Call
Another Kind of Violence
Love Puppets
The Key to Heaven
The Brightest Star
Remember Me This Way
encore -
Soft Toy
A Crack in Melancholy Time
another encore -
Close Your Eyes, You Can be a Space Captain
Enjoy the show, NØ
I dug this out a little while ago & it’s been getting a lotta play aroun’ heeyah.
Great goth-tinged post-punk from Don Diego & Linda LeSabre. They had both been members of Washington D.C. post-punk outfit Grand Mal. After leaving that band, they moved to Los Angeles in 1987 & their four-song EP followed shortly thereafter.
I originally had the four-song Elvis Christ EP which features the first four songs of side two of this LP. Then came The LP. This is the original vinyl release from 1988 on Gymnastic Records, a great goth/industrial label out of Germany. It was also released the following year on vinyl by Flipside Records & as a CD by Little Sister Records. Both 1989 versions are identical but the 1988 version not only has "Drums Along the Mohawk" (which was replaced in the later versions by "Chain of Abuse") but it contains earlier different mixes. The 1989 versions have been remixed, & the sound is more clear, the vocals more to the forefront.
I prefer this original version which is a bit muddier, but is much richer instrumentally. The bass of Don Diego is the lead instrument on all the releases, but on this earlier version there is more use of studio effects, yet it conveys a much more raw sound.
Credits: Don Diego - bass & vocals; Linda LeSabre - drums & vocals; Dave Haas - guitar (B1 - B4); Wrex Mok - guitar & vocals (A1 - A4 & B5); & Danny Frankel - percussion, voodoo shakers & rattles.
This album from Perth, Australia native Abbe May was knocked out in five days with members of Kill Devil Hills, The Lazy Railway & Abbe’s regular band The Rockin' Pneumonia. It is brimming with spectral sexual energy, perfect for knocking up a chilly Samhain eve. Her MySpace page says: “Five days, four musicians, three chords, too many bottles of spliff wine & one Willie Dixon song.” Abbe isn’t worried about evangelical threats of calling Satan into her life by using his name; she’s willing to play with the Big Boy if He’s willing to play with her. Well, are you, Natas, are you?
Tracks:
Hoodoo You Do
Call Me Back or I'll Unleash Hells Hounds Oh Sweet Jaysus!
You Gonna Get It
A Wail of Sirens
My Heart, it Struck Sorrow
I’ve Been Thirsty, I Haven't Found Any Yet
The Soul of a Man
Howard Moon
Wang Wang Doodle
The Ballad of Ignatius Elliot Archer
Goodnight Irene
Enjoy, NØ
UPDATE: This post was re-uploaded 08/10/2013. Enjoy, NØ
This goes out to Salmagundi Syncopation. She posted some Buk on her blog & I’m returning the flavor.
This here masterpiece was recorded in 1966.
It was finally released by Steve Richmond’s Earth Books, 137 Holister Avenue, Santa Monica, CA. in 1977.
The great photos on the front & back covers & inside left & right gatefold are by Lawrence Robbin.
Bukowski is in fine form: drinking; smoking; & wise-cracking throughout the 90 Minutes in Hell.
According to legend, there were supposedly only 500 copies printed. I consider myself lucky to be one of those Fortunate 500.
Hank begins Side 4:
"Well, what’re you gonna do? All right, if you can’t waste tape, you can’t waste anything. If you can’t waste anything, you might as well quit. So, the next move is mine, right? & I’m too loaded to even be decent. All right, let’s try some more just for laughs. (Ho Ho Ho)."
He then follows up with the scathingly brilliant "A Report Upon the Consumption of Myself". Classic Bukowski, talking tough.
Enjoy,
NØ
During the 1990s resurgence of punk rock & the alternative labels’ ‘feeding frenzy’, I used to get a lot of musick from the DIY, anti-corporate Rot’en Roll Records folks out of East Northport, NY who released 7” records to the fans for a dollar apiece. Negative Reaction, Violent Society, Youth Gone Mad, Bastard Squad & many many more cool as shit bands got their chance to be heard thanks to the Rot’en Roll folks.
Well, here’s a compilation from Stink Box Records out of River Edge, NJ, another DIY outfit, distributed by Rot’en Roll with thirty songs by 12 different bands. They recorded 4000 copies & gave them to the bands for free, to give away or sell for no more than $3. Think about that for a minute. Also, it states that unauthorized copying, hiring, lending, public performance & broadcasting of this record encouraged.
Here’s another compilation of San Jose bands, this from Little Lucky (in fact it starts off with Horchata’s “Green Butter” that was on the last Little Lucky post). It is a broad brush-stroke of downtown San Jose bands of that time. This one’s called SoFA’s Choice. A little history. In the second wave of San Jose’s attempted musickal renaissance (the first wave involved The Laundry Works, Scottish Rites Temple, Ribzy, Los Olvidados, Frontier Wives etc.), clubs & bands flourished in the South First Street Area. The area was labeled SoFA, echoing San Francisco’s South of Market SoMA. One of the events moving the scene in the right direction began on Sunday, Sept. 27, 1992, when the first SoFA Street Fair took place on South First Street. The fair flaunted a more Bohemian bent than its downtown mainstream cousins like Tapestry in Talent. It celebrated more alternative culture & musick. The first year was wild, as all the numerous bars & night clubs located along the street were open for free & featured a non-stop roster of the newest local acts. Street vendors, artists, & poets were in abundance. Believe it or not, a lot of the locals hauled out their old beat up sofas & set them up on the sidewalk for seating to relax on & watch the events of the day unfold. But soon the fair evolved from its freewheeling free-for-all beginnings to a more traditional sort of music festival with the addition of gates & fences, admission charges, & hundreds of cops. By the third year, few of the original SoFA denizens even attended & sofas were banned. After 10 years, the SoFA Street Fair died an ugly death. This compilation is named after that area, those events, & the bands that tried to sustain the scene.
Tracks -
Green Butter - Horchata
The Giant Fish - Neosoreskin
Artebella (Timbale mix) - Monkey
Live My Empty - Grits
Snowflake - Creamsickle
Willie’s Blunt - Willie’s Conception
Front - Insolence
Cocktails - Jalopy Taco Stand
It’s Alright - The Odd Numbers (only band to play every SoFA Street Fair)
Clay Wheels’ Theme - Clay Wheels
If You’re About to Cry - The New Mosquitos
He & She - Terra Nova
The Rain - Andalusia
Under the Lean-to - Lisa Dewey (incorrectly titled on the release as “Close to My Honeypie”)
Here’s Your Song - Your Precious You
The Devil Just Got Fired - Redd Devlin
Spies - Caustic Notions
Would You, Really - Elric
Enjoy, NØ
Way back in September of 2007, not long after I started this mess, I posted up two songs from some friends of mine in a band called Bombs for Whitey. They were from San Jose & relocated to Lost Angels about the time I sloughed off to Sacko’tomato. While I was digging through my boxes of clutter recently, I unearthed their self-titled release, so without any further ado than to say all song are by Al Langone (guitarist) & Paul Nevins (vocalist) except for the last cut, a live cover by Pop/Williamson, here they are...
Tracklist -
Time Waits for No One
I Don’t Need a Reason
Far Away 1995
No Respect
Standing on My Head
Everything Comes & Goes
All My Heros are Dead
Lost Generation
True Confessions
Only Losers Deny
In My Head
Bullet to the Soul
Some Things Never Change
Misunderstood
Search (live)
Enjoy, NØ
Here’s a compilation of bands from San Jose from about the same time as the previous post. Give you an idea what was going on there then. I always hated the original cover
so I made my own.
Tracks:
The Odd Numbers - When You’re Young Cookie - Kathy & Eddie
Slip - Flooded Waters
The Spit Muffins - 25 Cent Monsters Plum Loco - Tail Spin
Drug - We Can Go The Kindred - Be a Fool
Shovelhead - Consequences of Ignorance
The Smashtones - Best Friend Crack - Kramer
The Clay Wheels - Pep Armstrong
The Sugarbombs - Love to Stay
The Blanks - Death Wish Shangri-La - Space Train
Ridlin - Past Tense
Enjoy, NØ
Been culling through my musick & have been concentrating this last week on bands from my old homestead, San Jose.
Here’s one from San Jose's spastic jazz-improv group Horchata. They got together in 1993 playing informal jam sessions that got out of hand. The core members performed as Sacrilicious before adding horn players & arriving at this line-up: Jim Lopez - vocals; Ona Stewart - vocals & guitar; Jim Carrico - vocals & guitar; Brady Laucher - bass; Dale Means - drums; Reggie Webb - alto saxophone; Jason Walker - tenor saxophone; Rob Lombardi - trumpet; Justin Rivera - trombone; & Steve Delaney - harmonica. The band musick seems to be about Kung-fu, getting baked, & Horchata drinks. They’re also into " weird solos & transitions," says alto saxophonist Reggie Webb. "Instead of jazz to jazz, we'll go from reggae to swing to ska to punk rock. Then we'll have a harmonica solo instead of a guitar solo." Recorded live at Third Street Dojo; produced by Papa Hawk; released on Little Lucky.
Tracks:
Stanley
Http
Harry Hempseed
Speakerbutt II
Green Butter
Beans & Rice
Enjoy, NØ
Cassette 1 -
Side 1 -
Funk Express Card
J.R. (Just Right)
Blasters of the Universe
Bad Girls
Back 'n' the Day
Where 'r' the Children
Female Trouble's (The National Anthem)
Side 2 -
Wide Track
Funk Me Dirty
Blasters Featuting Eddie Hazel
Good Nite Eddie
A Sacred Place
Half Past Midnight
It's a Silly Serious World
Cassette 2 (Instrumental Versions) -
Side 1 -
J.R. (Just Right)
Funk Express Card
Back 'n' the Day
Bad Girls
Good Nite Eddie
Side 2 -
Where 'r' the Children
Funk Me Dirty
It's a Silly Serious World
A Sacred Place
Enjoy,NØ
UPDATE: This post was re-uploaded 09/07/2013. Enjoy, NØ.
Been some conversation going on around here about Courtney Love, the band from Olympia,Washington that contributed the track "Spray" to the Throw compilation I posted a few days ago.
Thought I'd post up three 7"ers from the band & a solo album by Courtney Love brain grrrl Lois Maffeo (known professionally [usually] as just Lois).