Discard after Using

I was thinking of posting this up because I just featured Trigger & the Thrill Kings a few days ago. Hypo is a one-off with David Foley on guitar, Kai Eric on bass & T&tTK alum Jim Sclavunos on drums. Super rare 7” on clear vinyl.

Hypo  ‎– The Dark Leader Speaks 7”, Disastro-Mix ‎ NR 19140, 1992.
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Side 1 –

The Dark Leader Speaks

Side 2 –

Doctor…Nurse…Meat

Enjoy,

NØ

Love is the Law, Love under Will

This is a cassette from Rudy. G. performed under the name Thelema. Recorded in 1987 in Arnhem, The Netherlands. This tape is dedicated to Aleister Crowley. Slow drone with lots of guitars, electronics, & rhythm machines.

“It may be through the blind night thou shalt see thine Angel. Come hear the faint whisper of His wings. Behold the starry breast begemmed. You shall catch the subtle voice. Neophyte has to acquire perfect control of the Astral Plane. We must penetrate…Magus.

Hawk-headed Lord, the intelligence who wrote the Book of the Law together with Crowley. Aiwaz or his magickal self. Bini bek. Bartzabel. To work up the magickal enthusiasm through the exhilaration induced by musick. To create Belial.”

Thelema - Aiwaz cassette C46 III, 1987.
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Side A – Holy Guardian Angel

1

2

3

4

Side B – Aiwaz

5

6

7

8

Do what thou wilt,

NØ

How about some Ambient...Death Ambient, that is!

Death Ambient teams three of the world's most exciting improvisers in a fascinating album that blurs styles & smashes genres in a dark world of unusual sounds & unorthodox techniques.

Japanese bass player Kato Hideki, founding member of Ground Zero & Bass Army, moved to New York City in 1992 where he began working with a number of musicians, including John Zorn, Marc Ribot, & Christian Marclay. In 1995 he met & began collaborating with Japanese drummer & composer Ikue Mori.

Mori herself had moved to New York City in 1977 where she joined the NoWave band DNA (along with Arto Lindsay & Robin Critchfield) as their drummer although she had never previously played drums. After DNA disbanded, Mori took to experimenting with drum machines which she modified to play samples. After DNA Mori recorded with Death Praxis (with Tenko), Vibraslaps (with Catherine Jauniaux), Ursa's Door (with Zeena Parkins) & many others. 1995 was a busy year for Mori. Beside teaming up with Hideki, she played on Painted Desert (with Marc Ribot & Robert Quine) & Hex Kitchen (with Hideki, Jauniaux, Zeena Parkins, David Watson, Hahn Rowe, & John Zorn).

After Hideki & Mori teamed up, they asked experimental guitarist Fred Frith to join the group. Frith is probably best known as a founding member of Henry Cow & the Art Bears. Frith had been living in New York City for 14 years & had also collaborated with many of the experimental musicians there. He is one of the most important & influential guitarists in improvisational music of the past three decades. He has played in: Skeleton Crew; Curlew; Cassiber; Aksak Maboul; Massacre; Material; the Golden Palominos; French, Frith, Kaiser. & Thompson; & Naked City. He has recorded with: the Residents; collaborated with Henry Kaiser; John Zorn; Rene Lussier; Derek Bailey; Ferdinand Richard; & Chris Cutler. He recorded numerous solo albums on ESD, SST, Ralph, Rift, Incus, Recommended, Rec Rec, Victo, Crammed Discs, & Sub Rosa.

As Death Ambient, the trio recorded their first album, the self-tutled Death Ambient at Green Point Studio in Brooklyn, New York City in 1995. The Death Ambient music is a collection of improvised pieces that included Mori's drum machine generated sound samples, released the same year in the New Japan series on John Zorn's Tzadik record label.

Death Ambient – Death Ambient, Tzadik TZ 7207, 1995.

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Tracklist –

Prophecy

Imperial Thorn

Hedgetrimmer

Alchemy

Heart Set 1

Rain

Broken Blue

Loquat Tree

White Eye

Coyote Got Away

A Dead Staphylococcus Looks like a Skull

Heart Set 2

Loading & Running

Flash

Ways Out

The inner label lists the songs as track 5 – “Rain” & track 6 – “Heart Set 1” while the disc is listed as above. The above listing is correct, as “Heart Set 1 & 2” are tracks 5 & 12 respectively.

Enjoy,

NØ

How about some Killer Party Service?

The Painless Dirties began in 1983 as Killer Party Service with Kai ‘Speed B’ Boysen – vocals, guitar, & keyboard, Felix Fango – vocals, bass, guitar, & keyboard, & Manni ‘Rudi’ Mentár – drums & backing vocals. After regularly playing various clubs in the Hamburg area, in June 1984, now known as The Painless Dirties, they went on tour of Germany with Trigger & the Thrill Kings.

In 1983 Truus de Groot - vocals hooked up with James Sclavunos ( Lydia Lunch, Sonic Youth, the Cramps, & now with Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds & Grinderman) - drums, Jim Duckworth - (Tav Falco’s Panther Burns & Gun Club) & Danny B. Harvey (Honey Dippers, Twenty Flight Rockers, The Head Cat with Lemmy, Mad Violets & many more) – guitars, & Charles Leyland – bass to start Trigger & the Thrill Kings. T&tTK played a raunchy blues, punk-rockabilly mix.

Moanin’ Low by Trigger & the Thrill Kings.

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A major tour like this provided The Painless Dirties with a much wider audience. They gained a great deal of attention & a month later, they signed with Alfred Hilsberg’s indie label What's So Funny About. They soon released their first LP, the self-titled The Painless Dirties that same year.

Critic’s described the band’s music as a mixture of Doors & The Velvet Underground.
By the end of 1984 The Dirties had added Tom Grom on piano, organ, & harp which allowed both Kai & Felix to sing & concentrate on their primary instrument without switching frequently to keyboard duties. In 1985 TPD recorded their second album, Minimal Brain Dysfunction (joined here by Nainz - vocals on “Doctor Olander”, backing vocals, & sampling).

After a series of line-up changes, the group split in 1987 into the two bands: Felix Fango’s The Movin’ Ooh! & Kai Boysen’s Comrad, from which later emerged Station 17.

The Painless Dirties – Minimal Brain Dysfunction, What’s So Funny About SF 36, 1986.

Side A –

Hey Girl

Beaten Dogs

Don’t Touch Me

Jump Out

Rotten Blues

Dr. Olander

Side B –

Dripping Tongue

Living in the Dark

One Night at Home

I’m not Mean Enough

Subito

A2 is listed “Beaten Dogs” on the back sleeve, “Beaten Dog” on label.
A3 is mentioned only on label, not on the back sleeve.
A4 & A5 are mentioned in reversed order on the back sleeve.
A6 is “Dr. Olander” on label, but “Doctor Olander” on the back sleeve.

Enjoy,

NØ

Scott Asheton R.I.P.

A great example of Scott ‘Rock Action’ Asheton’s drum chops…

T.V. Eye - from The Stooges – Fun House, Elektra EKS 74071, 1970.

Who ever thought, back in the early 70s, that Iggy would be the last Stooge standing?

Original Stooges drummer Scott Asheton, who co-founded the band in 1967 alongside Iggy Pop, bassist Dave Alexander (who passed away in 1975) & brother guitarist Ron Asheton (who died in 2009) has died.

No cause of death has been given, but he had been unwell since suffering a stroke after the band played at Hellfest in France in 2011. His last studio appearance was on last year’s album Ready To Die.

Confirming that Asheton had passed away on Saturday, Pop said in a statement:

“Scott was a great artist. I have never heard anyone play the drums with more meaning. He was like my brother. He & Ron have left a huge legacy to the world. The Ashetons have always been, & continue to be, a second family to me. My thoughts are with his sister Kathy, his wife Liz, & his daughter Leanna, who was the light of his life.”

R.I.P.

NØ

Musick for Your Mutha

Been quite some time since I’ve done that Parliafunkadelicment thang. Well, here’s some tight funk of the 7" kind. No "Maggot Brain" or "Free Your Mind", just the heavy heavy sound of pumpin' 45s. This is one of the best singles collections by any band ever assembled. Early-period Funkadelic remains the standard by which all other mind-expanding funk is judged, JB or no JB. Included is the twelve page booklet (from the CD) with everything you’ll need to know about these singles & the great artists who made them.

Funkadelic – Music for Your Mother: Funkadelic 45s 2xLP,
Westbound Records SEW2 055, 1992.

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LP One

Side One -
Music for My Mother
Music for My Mother (instrumental)
Can't Shake it Loose
As Good as I Can Feel
I'll Bet You
Qualify & Satisfy
Open Our Eyes

Side Two -
I Got a Thing, You Got a Thing, Everybody Got a Thing
Fish, Chips, & Sweat
I Wanna Know if It's Good to You
I Wanna Know if It's Good to You (instrumental)
You & Your Folks, Me & My Folks
Funky Dollar Bill
Can You Get to That
Back in Our Minds
I Miss My Baby (US music with Funkadelic)

LP Two

Side Three -
Baby I Owe You Something Good (US music with Funkadelic)
Hit it & Quit It
A Whole Lot of B.S.
Loose Booty
A Joyful Process
Cosmic Slop
If You Don't Like the Effects, Don't Produce the Cause
Standing on the Verge of Getting it On
Jimmy's Got a Little Bit of Bitch in Him

Side Four -
Red Hot Mamma
Vital Juices
Better by the Pound
Stuffs & Things
Let's Take it to the Stage
Biological Speculation
Undisco Kidd
How Do Yeaw View You

Enjoy,

NØ

Casting Pearlman before Swine

Philip Gadahn, born Philip Pearlman, is an American musician from western Riverside County, California. He is best known as the artist behind several psych-folk happenings in the 60s & early 70s. He has attracted more mainstream attention in recent years because of his son, Adam Yahiye Gadahn, a convert to radical Islam & a suspected al Qaeda operative. Pearlman attended the University of California at Irvine. Phil is the son of a Jewish father & Protestant mother. Pearlman himself was raised agnostic. He converted to Christianity in the early 70s, just prior to recording the underground classic Relatively Clean Rivers. After conversion he changed his last name to ‘Gadahn’ as a tribute to the Bible’s Gideon.

The earliest known release from Phil is a surf/hot rod 45 with some unusual touches from the less-than-legendary Phil & the Flakes. Listed as #23 on the Top 40 Surf Music Vocals by Montjurich Surfboards.

 

Phil & the Flakes – Chrome Reversed Rails b/w Blower Scoop 7" 45,
Hydra Music FINK 1010, 1964.
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After the Flakes flaked, Phil hooked up with other like-minded SoCal BoHo musicians & recorded a free spirited project called The Beat of the Earth.

 

The Beat of the Earth – The Beat of the Earth, Radish 0001, 1967.

Side 1 –

This Record is an Artistic Statement Part I

Side 2 –

This Record is an Artistic Statement Part II

 

Outtakes from the 1967 The Beat of the Earth recording session.

The Beat of the Earth – Our Standard 3-Minute Tune, Radish 0001½, 1994.

Side 1 –

Part I

Side 2 –

Part II

The Electronic Hole is a band put together after BOTE. Pearlman assembled The Electronic Hole in 1969 strictly for personal use, to serve as auditions for musicians for a new band. To help accomplish this & also to add to his own collection of demos, he used local studios in off-hours thanks to his friendship with album engineer Joe Sidore. The fact that Phil did a lot of his own recording helped create the rather unique sound tone of The Electronic Hole. One of the first things is the strange fuzz & noisy power combined with psychedelic riffing complexity. The next thing may be that it only has two song titles…"The Golden Hill" & "Love Will Find A Way" which are then divided into numerous parts. The whole noise usage & street-wise vocals may remind of The Velvet Underground. Pearlman's voice has a sound similar to John Cale's & The Electronic Hole has been called “a West Coast Velvets.

 

This album contains extremely rare songs from an extremely rare band. Original heavy psych sound that drones you into mind wandering. 

 

The Electronic Hole – The Electronic Hole, Radish 0002, 1970.

Side A –

The Golden Hill Part I

The Golden Hill Part II

The Golden Hill Part III

The Golden Hill Part IV

Side B –

Love Will Find a Way Part I

Love Will Find a Way Part II

Love Will Find a Way Part III

 

 

Phil assembled his band in the early 70s & eventually recorded this magnificent rural rock album in 1975. The Relatively Clean Rivers album stands with the very best albums of the era, possessing a purely American sound. Amazingly well produced compared to previous Pearlman releases, it is the very antithesis of his earlier material which was for the most part garage (although they in truth project a certain tangible level of sophistication). No measurable degree of time or expense was spared in the creation of the Relatively Clean Rivers album, which took over a year to assemble. It is one of the most flawless snapshots of the California seventies underground scene you will ever hear.

Some feel this album is the second coming, with strong apocalyptic acid visions & wonderful musicianship. Others feel that it’s a solid rural rock record with strands of late period psychedelia.Whichever, it is worth a good listen.

NOTE: Please avoid purchasing this album from the Radioactive label. Radioactive & its related label, Fallout are pirate operations, meaning they do not pay the original artists or copyright holders when they sell bootleg vinyl rips on CD. Read more about it at NothingExceptional.com.

Relatively Clean Rivers is: Phil Pearlman – vocals, guitar, bass, flute, baglama, harmonica, & synthesizer; Kurt Baker – vocals & guitar; plus John Alabaster – congas & Hank Quinn – drums on “The Persian Caravan” with Dwight Morouse – effects on “The Persian Caravan” & “A Thousand Years”.

Relatively Clean Rivers – Relatively Clean Rivers, Pacific Is 17601, 1976.

Side 1 –

Easy Ride

Journey Through the Valley of O

Babylon

Last Flight to Eden

Side 2 –

Prelude

Hello Sunshine

They Knew What to Say

The Persian Caravan

A Thousand Years

Enjoy,
NØ

Mick's Musick

 

If you’re not already familiar with Mick Collins, then I’m going to do what I can to remedy that right now.

Mick may well be the king of funked-out fuck-you garage punk. Mick was born in Detroit on December 18, 1965. He has been breaking guitar strings for over 25 years now but claims he still has only mastered two chords. He's fried the blues, soul, & punk rock in so many electric batters you could open a small restaurant featuring his many aural feasts.

Collins first got exposure to early rock ‘n’ roll music through his family's record collection. Also, living in Detroit, he was surrounded by Motown records, which also provided influence.

 

Collins first played organ in a band called the U-Boats in 1981. He then played drums in the Wire-influenced art-pop band Floor Tasters from 1984 to 1985. In 1986, the 20-year old Collins helped form the seminal garage punk band, The Gories.

 

The Gories is the real Detroit sound. Forget all that stuff  about how the White Stripes & The Strokes are saving rock ‘n’ roll, creating a new scene. The Gories had a profound understanding of both blues & garage minimalism. Mick Collins’ soul roar combined with Dan Kroha's punk wail mixed with a healthy dose of Peggy O'Neil's heavy thud created a sound capable of melting everyone’s brain. The Gories were the ultimate in totally minimalist, real bluesy garage rock. They epitomize GARAGE band. Primitive electric guitars & primitive drums with no bass. They released three albums & five singles before they called it quits after their 1992 European tour.

The Gories – I Know You Fine, but How You Doin’, New Rose Records ROSE 219, 1990.
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Side 1 –

Hey, Hey We’re the Gories

You Make it Move

Detroit Breakdown

Stranded

Goin’ to the River

Early in the Morning

Thunderbird ESQ

Nitroglycerine

Side 2 –

Let Your Daddy Ride

Six Cold Feet

Queenie

Smashed

Ghost Rider

Chick-Inn

View from Here

 

 

Collins next worked in a basic garage rock band, Blacktop from 1994 to 1996. Much heavier & darker than The Gories, Blacktop ventured into the deepest, darkest corners of the garage for its sweaty inspiration. Among its gems is the rough & ready cover of Captain Beefheart's "Here I Am (Here I Always Am)" along with a slew of stomping originals that sound as if they were penned at a drag strip. Collins & Darin Lin Wood on guitars & vocals are always in fine voice & their anti-heroic guitar riffing merges perfectly. Bassist Alex Cuervo & drummer Janet Walker keep the low end down & dirty.

Blacktop – Up All Night, Au Go Go ANDA 188, 1994.

Side A –

I Think It’s Going to Rain

Tornado Love

Here I Am, I Always Am (Captain Beefheart cover)

44 Blues

Planet Earth (Goddamn)

Bahai

Side B –

Mojo Kitty

Keep on Doggin’ Me

Let Me Go Home, Whiskey

Blazing Streets

Goin’

She’s Mine, All Mine

 

After the demise of Blacktop, Collins helped form King Sound Quartet which had one single in 1996 & one album, The Getdown Imperative in 1997.  This band was made up of: Mick Collins – vocals & guitar; Tim Kerr – guitar; Alex Cuervo (from Blacktop) – bass; & Stephanie Friedman – drums.

 

King Sound Quartet -  Annihilate This Week 7”, Estrus Records ES787, 1996.

Side A –

Annihilate This Week

Side B –

Memphis Town

 

King Sound Quartet – The Getdown Imperative, In the Red Recordings ITR 052, 1997.

Side A –

I Wouldn’t Put it Past You

Inebreation ‘63

I Want To

White Streak

Sheer Terror

Side B –

Space is the Place

 

 

Another project around this time was The Screws. The Screws came about something like this…Epitaph recording artists the Red Aunts went to Detroit in 1997 to record their final album Ghetto Blaster at Ghetto Records studio (owned by Jim Diamond, a name that will continue to pop up numerous times in this saga) with Mick Collins as their chosen producer. The Red Aunts had long been fans of Mick's work & likewise Mick was a fan of the Red Aunts. During a moment of inspiration, the Aunts decided to have Mick record a duet with their vocalist & guitarist Terri Wahl. This was the seed that produced The Screws. Mick & Terri put together a band during one of Mick's many sojourns to Los Angeles for a comic book convention. They enlisted the duties of rhythm-section-for-hire Dan Brown & Marty Moore (from Jacksonville Beach, Florida) to take part in the project. Dan & Marty had a two-piece band called Johnny Hash. Dan is also known as the on again – off again bass player for Royal Trux. Once the debut Hate Filled Classics was recorded, everyone went back to their other projects & forgot about it. After its release, offers began to roll in for live appearances. Mick & Terri did not want to disappoint, so the band toured the western half of the US & Japan with Jimmy Hole (Necessary Evils) on bass & Kerry Davis (Red Aunts) on drums. Their blues infused slop-punk sounds delighted & offended crowds wherever they went. In 2001 they released their second album Shake Your Monkey with their new line-up of Collins, Wahl, Hole, & drummer Mike McHugh.

 

The Screws – Shake Your Monkey, In the Red Recordings ITR 080, 2001.

Side 1 –

Story 16

Keep on Lovin’ Me

In Case You Need love

Flip Your Face

The Storm

I See You, Baby

Ramona say Yes

Side 2 –

Betcha Can’t Kiss Me

Shake it, Baby

Strange Things

If Loving is Believing

I’m Yours & I’m Hers

Monkey Doin’ Woman

I Ain’t in the Mood

 

However, by this time, Collins was most focused on his newest project, The Dirtbombs. The Dirtbombs is Collins' latest garage punk vehicle but unlike the other collective acts he's worked with, he can truly call this one his own. The Dirtbombs is a wide-ranging, musically eclectic band. Beginning with the "High Octane Salvation" single in 1996, the Dirtbombs have come to be Collins' most durable & arguably most popular project (rivaled only by the legendary status of The Gories).

The Dirtbombs had a shifting cast of musicians behind Collins on guitar, consisting of a 2-drum, 2-bass set-up. Since 2004 The Dirtbombs have had a relatively steady line-up: Mick – guitar, keyboards, & vocals; Tom Potter & legendary Ghetto Records owner Jim Diamond - bass & vocals; Ben Blackwell & Pat Pantano – drums & vocals; & Troy Gregory – strings with Eugene Strobe & Shelia Holmes – backing vocals.

The Dirtbombs – Dangerous Magical Noise, In the Red Recordings ITR 099, 2003.

Side 1 –

Start the Party

Get it While You Can

Don’t Break My Heart

Sun is Shining

Earthquake Heart

Thunder in the Sky

Side 2 –

Motor City Baby

Stuck in thee Garage

I’m Through with White Girls

21^st Century Fox

Stop

Stupid

F.I.D.O.

The Dirtbombs -  We Have You Surrounded, In the Red Recordings ITR 150, 2008.

Side One –

It’s not Fun Until They See You Cry

Ever Lovin’ Man

Indivisible

Sherlock Holmes (Sparks cover)

Wreck My Flow

Leopardman at C&A

Side Two –

Fire in the Western World (Dead Moon cover)

Pretty Princess Day

I Hear the Sirens

They Have us Surrounded

Race to the Bottom

La Fin du Monde

 

Mick also played in Voltaire Brothers, a funk project that issued the 2003 album I Sing the Booty Electric. Voltaire Brothers are actually based around a two-headed rhythm section/songwriting duo of Collins on drums, guitar, & vocals along with Jerome Gray on guitar & bass. A gang of others including frequent Collins collaborator & studio engineer Jim Diamond, singers Shelia Holmes & former Atomic Fireball front man John Bunkley among others  have been roped into the rubbery P-Funk-worshiping shenanigans. The group’s debut LP, the six-song I Sing the Booty Electric is a wiggly jointed blast of DIY rubber soul ranging from the dystopian atmospheric groove of “Trouble Man Everyday” (a loose jam-merge of Marvin Gaye’s “Troubleman” & Frank Zappa’s “Trouble Comin’ Every Day”) to sure-fire dance floor flame-ups like the Funkadelic verbalfunknastics of

“Transparabolocwobblemegatronicthangmabutylspasmotickryptorumpalistics (aka Siege Of The Booty Chirren).” It’s a thing of beauty or more rightly, booty…a testament to the Mothership’s ability to hold us all in its tractor beam.

Voltaire Brothers – I Sing the Booty Electric, Fall of Rome FOR 1006, 2003.

Side 1 –

The Mother Ones

I Sing the Booty Electric

Which One

Side 2 –

Funky Motion

Transparabolicwobblemegatronicthangamabutylspasmotickryptorumpalistics \

     (A.K.A. Siege of the Booty Chirren)

Trouble Man Everyday

Aside from all that, Mick has also done solo work (including issuing a split 7" vinyl with Lorrette Velvette for the film Wayne County Ramblin' in which Collins has a role), produced scores of other artists' music (including Andre Williams), DJs, & does vocals for yet another long-time side project, Man Ray, Man Ray. He was the host of Night Train, a Saturday night show on WDET - Detroit Public Radio. Collins was the producer of the CD Drop Dead by Figures of Light, which was recorded in Brooklyn, New York at Mitro's Studios June, 2011 & released on vinyl by Norton Records on November 13, 2011; the remastered CD version was released on May 18, 2012.

Collins is also preparing more Dirtbombs singles & a new LP, as well as a new Voltaire Brothers record, a Man Ray, Man Ray record as well as a techno record.

Although Collins seems to eat, breathe, & secrete music, he claims his madness has a method:

     ”One of my firm beliefs is that if you can't dance to it, it isn't rock and roll. So every band I play in, you're gonna be able to dance to it. Overall, Detroit is really a rah-rah, fist-in-the-air kind of rock town. From soul music to techno, we like music that has a strong rhythm,” he says with a hearty laugh.

Enjoy,

NØ

Agent 00۞

Edwin Starr – Agent Double-O-Soul b/w Agent Double-O-Soul (instrumental), 

Ric-Tic Records RT 103, 1964.

decryption code in comments

Enjoy,

NØ

Hard Rock from the Middle East

 

 

The Devil's Anvil was a hard rock/psychedelic band based out of New York City in the 1960s. They released one album entitled Hard Rock from the Middle East in 1967 showcasing a mix of 60s hard & psychedelic rock with Turkish, Arabic, & Greek vocals & traditional instrumentals. The fuzzed-out guitar wasmingled with oud, bouzouki, tamboura, & Goblet drums. This Middle Eastern acid-rock blend was unique for its time, predating the British trans-global dance bands by 30 years.

Instrumental in the band's formation was producer Felix Pappalardi, who helped sign them with Columbia Records. Pappalardi (born December 30, 1939 & died April 17, 1983) was an American music producer, songwriter, vocalist, & bass guitarist. As a musician, Pappalardi is widely recognized as the bassist, vocalist, & founding member of the American hard rock band Mountain, a band born out of Pappalardi’s working with future band mate Leslie West's soul-inspired rock ‘n’ roll band The Vagrants.

As a producer, Pappalardi is perhaps best known for his work with British psychedelic blues-rock power trio Cream , as well as his work with The Flock, Hot Tuna, The Youngbloods, & others.

 

 

 

In 1966, while hanging out in Greenwich Village, Pappalardi chanced upon a group of Middle Eastern born or descended musicians called The Devil’s Anvil who were playing at the MacDougal Street Cafe Feenjon. Pappalardi began playing with them. Eventually The Devil’s Anvil became the unofficial house band at Feenjon. The members of the group were: Jerry Satpir - lead guitar & vocals; Steve Knight - rhythm guitar, bass, & bouzouki; Elierzer Adoram – accordion; & Kareem Issaq – oud & vocals. 

 

The Devil’s Anvil – Hard Rock from the Middle East,
Fantazia/Shaitun Records DVA 1031, 1967.
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Side 1 –

Wala Dai        

Nahna Ou Diab          

Karkadon       

Selim Alai      

Isme            

Besaha            

Side 2 –

Shisheler         

Kley            

Hala Laya       

Treea Pethya  

Misirlou          

Enjoy, NØ  

Last of the Last

On a somber note: 
June 4, 2018 - Jalal Mansur Nuriddin of The Last Poets passed away at age 74. 
R.I.P.

Once I start in posting On-U Sound, I want everyone to hear everything. This one is quite unique even for On-U, but Sherwood was always an impeccable producer. This is an EP from Jalal called Mankind.

Jalal is Jalaluddin Mansur Nuriddin, the self-proclaimed 'Grandfather of Rap'. His musical path crossed that of Adrian Sherwood in the early 1990s.

According to musical legend, the South African poet Little Willie Kgositile arrived in New York in 1968. There he joined the Harlem based Black Writer's Workshop called the East Wind, located in Harlem. Little Willie, who had fled from the racist apartheid regime of his homeland, had written a poem in which he said:

     "[This was] ...the last age of essays and poems, and that guns and rifles, would take there place, so therefore, we are the last poets of this age."

The members of the workshop concurred that they were figuratively these ‘last poets’ & though Little Willie left shortly after, the remainder became wordsmiths & hammered out the feelings of their people, eventually all oppressed people in the world, into the shape & scope of the struggle between despair & hope. In the beginning, The Last Poets consisted of Gylain Kain, Abiodun Oyewole, David Nelson, Felipe Luciano, Omar Bin Hassan (whom I have featured before), Jalal Nuriddin & Suleiman El-Hadi.

Due to conflicts in style & content, they performed in various combinations with each other, or not at all, until such time as a suitable cohesive lasting unit could knit together, in complementation as opposed to competition. So it was that Jalal & Suleiman emerged as rhyme partners honing their art form into a vehicle of total expression, which is today called rap & hip-hop. However, it had nothing to do with what those genres have become today. It was not about committing crimes & selling drugs or who had the biggest dick or gun. It was about striving to rise above the oppression that is stifling equality & perpetuating racism.

Jalal, under the name Lightnin’ Rod, released his first rap record Doriella du Fontaine in 1984. This is a fantastic studio jam session by Jimi Hendrix & Buddy Miles (of Band of Gypsys) recorded in 1969. Lighnin' Rod a few years later dubbed a cool rap over it with the help of Bill Laswell. I have included the title song here.

For 24 years Jalal & Suleiman developed their science of making sense out of non-sense until Suleiman passed away on October 3, 1995. They were the first rap group to be acclaimed by the music-loving public. They went on to sell a million records by word of mouth. But they were never acknowledged by the recording industry, who sold their records on the down-low, without the benefit of advertising or promotion or royalties to the artists.

Jalal's collaboration with Adrian Sherwood around 1993-5 came about through the Skip McDonald connection. McDonald had been one of the leaders of the Sugar Hill sound before crossing the pond & hooking up with Sherwood. Jalal, always somewhat of a critical & demanding performer, insured that the association with Sherwood was bound to be short-lived but that union lasted long enough for the Mankind 10" single (the first fours songs of the CD – "Trancendental Twins" appears only on this German CD release – both 1993) & On the One, a full length album (with original material other than all parts of "Shade of the Light" as "In the Shade of the Light" – recorded in 1995 & released the following year) had been committed to wax.

Many of Sherwood's key players are on board here to assist Jalal – vocals: Skip McDonald – guitar; Doug Wimbish – bass; & Style Scott - drums.

Jalal – Mankind EP, On-U Sound EFA 07480-09, 1993.

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Tracklist –
Mankind (Part 1)
Mankind (Part 2)
Shade of the Light (Part 1 & 2)
Shade of the Light (Part 3)
Transcendental Twins

Enjoy,
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