BIGMAMA SHOCKIN' 3-I get tired of waiting… BUM'S MUSIC

Before the internet explosion, finding these Japanese releases were elusive searches like seeking rare shortwave signals bouncing off the earth's upper atmosphere in the middle of the night. While the treasure hunt with its magnetic poles of frustration and reward now mostly dropped from the process, listening and exploring the music itself can now take the lead.

With an album title that seems to be directly transferred off some night market t-shirt and an even wackier band name, their sound falls somewhere between The 5.6.7.8's and the Shonen Knife to cite some comparable Japanese trios with the widest name recognition here in North America. However, this Sendai band is on a wavelength that is closer to the rock 'n' roll frequencies of  THE PORTUGAL JAPAN, Supersnazz. KO and the Knockouts and why don't we throw in the Muffs while we are at it. I could see this being a SFTRI release, if the prolific record label was still in full operation and reviewed in Shredding Paper. It's refreshing to hear their straight ahead approach that is characterized by big hooks, serrated Voxx guitars, propulsive drumming (with the drummer on lead vocals- Karen Carpenter style) and berets.     

"Midnight Monster" would've probably been the band's first video and slotted last (1:55 am) if 120 Minutes was still around.  "Hate" actually skips along with a ska sound like "My Boy Lollipop" by Millie Small, and it's not until the kiss-off chorus that the folded up playground note reveals the h word before quickly doing an about face with a mention of love. With its sweet succinctness, the dashing "Highway" sounds like something from Momoko Yoshino's Sunnychar or Tiger Shovel Nose, while "Poker Face" delivers seemingly effortless roller coaster melodies over prominent girl-group backing vocals.  With their rhythm section motoring along like a dependable Honda engine, they pack more melodies in one song than many bands in their entire discography.

Starting with a "Black is Black" bass line copped from Los Bravos, "Look at Me" reveals their mod influence (early Who and Small Faces) they wear on the sleeves of their bar-stripe tees. This album features only one cover and they make the most of it covering the Zombies' "I'll Keep Trying" complete with a murky and whirling organ.  It should be interesting if they further explore this beat-pop direction as it could take them on a flight to international renown like Mama Guitar or the Pebbles. Regardless of future approaches, their debut transmits that unique Japanese knack for tapping into the essential elements of rock 'n' roll and making it all that more exciting.

Sea Wren

Musician, producer, arranger Matt Rendon has been setting things in major motion down in panoramic Tucson.  Not only is he the prime mover behind some of the best releases of this decade (Crummy Desert Sound by the Resonars and The Butterscotch Cathedral), he's also been directly involved, in both playing and production capacities, with stellar debut albums from The Freezing hands, Harsh Mistress and now Sea Wren.  In theory, Sea Wren has the great notion of what perhaps the Resonars would sound like tinted with female vocals. In actuality, Sea Wren is their own distinct entity along with combining all the wonderful elements you have come to expect with a release from Matt's Midtown Island Studio. The songs are mid-fidelity pop gems that are more fizzy than fuzzy (like say the Burnt Palms) and shamble and bounce over an infusion of post-punk/new wave angular energy.

"Lena," one of those perfect international girls names, starts with lyrics of questioning while the brisk and breathtaking music is a declaration of desert clarity over deliberate coastal murkiness.  It ends up in the same neighborhood, as "Definitely Crescent Ridge"-the lead-off track from the Resonars' 1998 debut.  "Lena" is also one of those songs that you will wake up with the chorus running through your head. "Birds of Slumber" winds up the Raspberries' "I Wanna Be With You" super-glued to a Guided by Voices-ish verse before fleeing the Ohio stickiness to explore now classic sunburst Resonars territory accompanied by percolating keys.  Along with dialing into the vibe of the the vastly unsung Sacramento band Baby Grand, "Wake Up Now" is overcoated with a "Lovelife" Lush or Primitives sparkle finish and propelled by rat-a-tat-tat drums. "Sarah's Cross" evokes the Zombies/Zumpano leaning up against Heavenly and Nosotrash with its pep, hooks galore, ringing guitars and bridge suspended by soaring harmonies.

Within the interchanging and intertwined guitars that clash and converge, "Riddle Lake" is an example or their pop-rock where the colossal and sprawling is contained within their overall concise and minimalist approach.  A Palomar/ Peach Kelli Pop-like chorus on "LA Stems" is supported by a Wendy & Bonnie layered arrangement where the Westward leading parallel and counterpart harmonies conjoin and blend to make for one of the highlights of this album. The song also reminded me of the seemingly long lost Japanese band kabochack.  Intended or not, "Helen Day," curves into the "Ventura Highway" with its reflected harmonies backlighting and glowing throughout the song that fills the space with possibilities. "The Latest Cage" is the song that immediately jumped out to me with its Lesley Gore-ish vocals gliding over Spector pop percussion and then proceeding in an unexpected direction with an ascent from River Deep to Mountain (Lemmon) High. 

Sea Wren brings the past and present together to create their own signature sound as well as sharing the compelling timeless pop sensibilities of the Midtown Island Sound.  With several exciting projects (Harsh Mistress II, The Freezing Hands II, new Resonars) said to be the works, I can only imagine what Matt and his overlapping circles of musicians have in store for the future on Tucson's wide-open horizon.  Without question, they will continue reaching for new heights "Under the Blazing Stars."

Robert Drasnin - Voodoo

The late ‘50s/early ‘60s were the halcyon era of exotica recordings partly due to the ascendancy of high fidelity, the popularity of easy listening & jazz, requisite post-war Polynesian escapism along with the universal human search for the indigenous. While not one of the genre giants (Les Baxter, Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, and Yma Sumac) the adventurous sounds and intricate musicianship found on Robert Drasnin’s Voodoo has allowed his original compositions to endure and connect to ensuing generations. In its original vinyl incarnation, this is one of the most sought-after exotica albums due to the original minuscule print run and distant realms evoked within its grooves.  “Orinoco," flows and floats like lava over the continually shifting plates of pan–global percussion-sweeping the sound to overlooks of the vast Pacific. Interweaving harp, glockenspiel and wind chimes, “Enchantment” sways like a flourishing palm tree somewhere between the still spreading seafloor and the jet stream.  “Tambuku,” featuring a young John Williams on piano, takes on Far East motifs with an understated atmospheric approach free floating over a panorama of perpetual percussion. Voodoo frequently explores the rarefied space where exotica overlaps with Latin Jazz. Accordingly, it's the perfect soundtrack for an excursion to the famous Kon-Tiki in Tucson or on the back porch between drug store tiki torches and visions of Easter Island.

Thee Midniters-In Thee Midnite Hour!!!!

From 1964-1969, Thee Midniters were on the vanguard in their native East Los Angeles and throughout the Southern California region. There was a time in 1964-65, when Whittier Blvd. slicing through East Los Angeles, prefigured the Sunset Strip--lined with live music venues, record stores and 5 major clothing stores selling mod threads and Beatles boots, which Thee Midniters perfectly encapsulated with their propulsive instrumental "Whittier Blvd."  With their versatility and proficiency, Thee Midniters could go from unhinged proto-punk to solid soul, like the top 40 boss radio of the time, which allowed the 7-member combo to crossover with almost any audience of youth and even win over Casey Kasem.  Stirring up Beatles-like bedlam, they were just as popular with the Anglo audiences in Montebello and at the Rose Bowl as they were in their home turf of unincorporated East L.A.or filling El Monte's American Legion Stadium. They could also be said to be the progenitors of El Chicano (headliners of the upcoming 2016 Chandler Jazz Festival) while paving the paths for later bands ranging from the Zeros through Los Lobos to Chicano Batman. This compilation album is a revved-up lowdown of their tough, taut and hard as concrete early album sides & singles which aligns them with the paint peelin’ contingent of bands then ruling the Pacific Northwest like the Kingsmen, the Wailers and the Sonics. Especially, revelatory are some of their Latin soul instrumentals like the searing "Dragon-Fly" which is both horn and guitar driven and sounds like a perfect convergence of a taunting marching band with the Yardbirds.   Be sure to check out Youtube for some of their later songs like the festive and determined “Chicano Power” and “Walk on By” where they stretch out to display that their tastes were truly catholic as they were informed and inspired as much from traditional Mexican corrido, bolero, rumba and Bronx boogalo as the British Invasion, Southern California surf, James Brown, and Burt Bacharach.  In Thee Midnight Hour!!!!, it’s time to listen to yesterday’s sounds advancing into today. 

Top 15 or so of 2015

01. Harsh Mistress-S/T
02. Western Plaza-S/T
03. The Pen Friend Club-Spirit of the Pen Friend Club
04. The Butterscotch Cathedral-S/T
05. Susan James-Sea Glass
06. Glenn Mercer-Incidental Hum
07. The Mantles-All Odds End
08. Sir Lord Von Raven-Age of Machines
09. Yo La Tengo-Stuff Like That There
10. Miriam-Down Today
11. GospelbeacH-Surf Line
12. Chuck Perrin-The Yearn
13. Boss Fink-R.P.M.
14. Ultimate Painting-Green Lanes
15. Christina Quesada-You Are the One

Collections & Compilations

01.The Kitchen Cinq-When the Rainbow Disappears-1965-68
02. Martians, Demons And Fools Like Me-The MCI Records Story 1954-61

Live Recordings
01. The Britemores-WFMU Sessions
02. Ely Parker and the CIAs-1993 South Bend, IN

In Memory: Lesley Gore, P.F. Sloan

Ronnie Spector's Best Christmas Ever

Every year around this time, I go on the search to find “original” holiday music to complement the tried, true and tired sounds of the season.  If I can unbox at least one new-to-me classic from an album, it brings surprise and delight.  For 2015, Ronnie Spector’s “Light One Candle” is the shining song of this season found on her 2010 EP Best Christmas Ever.  The piano-driven verses convey the power of resilience in the face of adversity, the tick-tock childlike mantra chorus breaks through the dark fear like a night light for a child, while the bridges echo the lovely melody of the Byrds & Turtles’ “You Showed Me.” This song, written by Linda Sobo, crosses over to recognize the universal symbols of illumination encompassing Chanukah’s menorah, Christmas’ Advent candles, Diwali's lamps and the lights glowing all around.  Knowing Ronnie’s background story of surviving her years with Phil Spector makes the song all the more incandescent.

Chuck Perrin-The Yearn

When we last left off with his 2009 release "Down 2 Bone, Chuck Perrin's constantly shifting musical direction, along with the course of the country/world overflowing with looming uncertainty, could only be conjectured.  With "Down 2 Bone," Perrin employed his past musical styles ('60s folk) and ('70s country) in order address the upheaval of an overdrawn country in search of purpose.  The first three songs of his latest excursion "The Yearn," signal that we remain in rough waters and still searching through the wreckage as people and a society.  Between the tangles of Larry Mitchell's outsized blues guitar, "It's an Asshole World" reflects the grind that we all know too well along with the attendant hostile forces that threaten and attack from any angle.  Initially, "Blood" came across as reheated Cormac McCarthy. Later, I read that the song was not dark matter fiction, but a reminder about the 2011 tragedy that happened 80 miles away in a Tucson Safeway parking lot.... and goes on and on with the latest campus shooting in Flagstaff or the one in Santa Barbara we kinda forgot about.  The song rides out on "20 Feet from Stardom" gospel backing vocals that could have been supported Linda ("What a Man") Lyndell.  The Tropicalia Cubist "Living the Life" continues the cacophonous, agitated and protracted vibe that courses through a frequently confrontational country that has pretty much an abundance of everything, but understanding. These opening songs are not simple-minded knee jerk indictments against predictable forces and atmospheric turbulence, but a harder look on how we treat others. 

Touchstones

In spite of it all, Perrin maintains his indefatigable hope and declares in "Touchstones." that he's ready to scamper up metaphoric mountains like Gary Synder and Kerouac in The Dharma Bums. The song sent me back to a Firestone Car Care in 1996 Rochester Hills when I heard "Don't Worry Baby" by the Beach Boys reflecting off the large plate glass window which opened up to the vibrant colors of main street. In that moment, Cap’n Bri’n steered away all doubt like his music so frequently does. In "Touchstones," Perrin channels the 1972 Brian who would listen incessantly to Randy Newman's "Sail Away" album.  The lyrics presents the fulcrum mantra where the wishful yearning "Feel like everything’s gonna be all right" tips overs to actuality  “Everything is all right."  The song bubbles upon a passage of Rob Whitlock's Hammond B3 to a place tinged with jukebox colors.

"Hiding in Plain Sight" brings back the sultry R&B we last softly heard on the heartfelt ":44 of Love." I could hear this duet with Steph Johnson playing in the Kohl's dressing rooms when buying a pair of Seals and Crofts pants...I meant Croft & Barrow trousers for work.  Seriously, this would not feel out of place piped in at a moonlight madness sale or on one of the many permutations of adult contemporary radio. Moreover, this number hints that all of life does not need to be analyzed or documented, life just needs to be life.

Encapsulating one of Perrin's ongoing themes, "Wasting Time" challenges us to stop going through the motions and squandering resources before the stretching out into a zen-dom chorus whipped into alignment by the tightrope bass and overlaid Doobie Brothers guitar decals. Perrin's forthright voice, finding the rhythm in and out of the routine, evokes the enduring hope for something better while echoing the "What's Going On" ecological consciousness advocated by Marvin Gaye and Pope Francis. Without a trace of weary resignation, Perrin conveys that life is about transformation and not haplessly flailing around proclaiming how we think it should be:   

the old ways no longer function/ 

we must explore some different paths/ 

poke around maybe take some chances/

what’s going on is not where it’s at

"Let This Be the Moment Now"

"Peace," spreads out with its sunrise flutes and enters the mystical realms once frequently visited with his sister Mary in his late '60s work cherished around the world. This musical era of the Perrins is slated to be re-released in the form of a lavish and extensive box set in Korea by Beatball Records that has been years in the making.  In summer of 2015, Spain's Mapache Records presented the "first ever vinyl reissue" of their 1968 debut album "Brother & Sister." Between guitars, bongos, the aforementioned flutes and a Thom Bell-like production, Perrin returns to his familiar folk leitmotiv of seeking the essence and appreciating radiance of life despite the trials and tribulations.  "Still Shaking My Head" is all about poetic execution and delivery.  This is where a freewheelin' '60s folk hootenanny meets the best barbed moments of a '90s poetry slam. Like the sloped and skittering topography of Perrin's Southern California, the song is slightly askew, but infinitely compelling. Here Perrin presents a coiled world that you don't want venture out in, however, moving forward is the only way to defeat the destabilizing influences.  Riding atop Dennis Caplinger's banjo, the song opens up like funny car and punches out a searing couplet of tragicomedy relief before spinning out of the measures to the sound of skronking and skidding sax.

If others in his generation are coasting it on out, he is headed in the other direction, wherever that may lead with a flipped odometer. "I am approaching 70 and still creating music with the same ferocity I did when I was 18." asserts Perrin on his web site.

Perrin rides this momentum, both self-created and reflected back by the San Diego jazz community he has helped foster at the jazz performance space dizzy's which is as much a state of mind as a location. From a showroom of a jet ski rentals operation by day, Perrin offers all-ages access, free parking and most of all--a heightened awareness.

"Dark on You Now"

In the succinct and impressionistic "Sorrow Comes," Perrin renders a sketch that refuses to stay content in representational musically holding patterns.   He acknowledges grief and sorrow like Poe's Raven, but then ascends the cello strings of the (beginner's) mind to Thoreauian "castles in the air" and the layered lights of the universe. The closer "Unplug" brings us crashing back to the digital dominant society we find ourselves in. Perrin, taking an existentialist perspective, questions if all this split attention will add up to anything enduring along with considering the long term effects on our senses, soul and spirit...zip, zap and stay somewhat tuned. 

"Both Sides Now"

Regardless of whatever may transpire, Perrin will continue nobly tilting at windmills, exploring conditions and acting as a catalyst for "better world" change through his songcraft and commitment to musical community. The Yearn presents his latest flourishing music sweeping in from different directions and making the necessary transformations before proceeding courageously outwards into the dimensions between dark and light.

Waylon Jennings-Love of the Common People

After overpowering a woodsy Beatles song (You've Got To Hide Your Love Away from their Help album),Waylon quickly follows up with the title song where it all comes together for him.  With Love of the Common People, his resonant baritone and larger than life persona perfectly match its ascending arrangement and overt theme of social justice --presaging Elvis Presley’s In the Ghetto by two long trying years in America.  This pivotal song reached #3 on the 1967 country charts and was said to have gone all the way to #1 in Navajo country.  On a popular culture level, Waylon would later go on receive more exposure and notoriety with his ‘70s “outlaw” work, his big screen appearance in the Sesame Street movie Follow that Bird and his "Theme from The Dukes of Hazzard (Good Ol' Boys)" which played in millions of living rooms each Friday night in the early ‘80s.  However, on this relatively unheralded album centered on its aforementioned title song, Waylon is able to lovingly stir individual listeners while also raising their consciousness to the plight of others. 

New Directions of The Afro Blues Quintet Plus One by The Afro Blues Quintet Plus One

Don’t let the strange cover art or the unwieldy band name deter you from considering this instrumental soul, Latin jazz, and easy listening musical treasure from 1966.  Despite the band name, there is only a trace amount of blues in this act.  A prominent pop sensibility, propelled by the polyrhythmic percussion interwoven between the melody carrying vibes and flutes, illuminates this remastered long player. The pick hit is the buoyant “Mystic Mambo” which was also issued as a truncated single. This Los Angeles-based combo frequently played the famous Sunset Strip circuit and you can hear their musical cross-pollination as a refracted influence on the pop rock groups of that seminal area and era-namely the Doors and Love.

Western Plaza-Case of the Missing Guitarist

Being misleadingly described as “Party Garage Pop” in some quarters leads one to anticipate them slanting towards a deliberately shoddy and offhand sound that is all the rage with the cassette kids. Meanwhile, the band’s name conjures up everything from what used to be a telegram company (Western Union) to glowing “Stop & Shop” romantic notions evoked by the Modern Lovers in their declaration of “Roadrunner.” On another level, the band’s moniker reminds one of being young, with junior high friends and drinking Dr. Pepper in a strip mall at sunny noon without any acknowledged demands, responsibilities or expectations—even if all a mirage and never actual experience. Fittingly, “Thrift Store Girl” was chosen to be their first SoundCloud single. Vacuous, formulaic and shopworn were the initial "Apples to Apples" words when approaching a song entitled "Thrift Store Girl” in a power-pop, punk-pop or even a K Records context. Even when I was single, thrift tours or one-off detours took more gas and time than it was really worth, regardless of finding Sunshine Company long players for a buck or a Hawaiian-styled shirt with Century 21 logos emblazoned all over it. Still eternally swayed by the Ramones and Jonathan Richman, who both refined music and lyrics down to an enduring and elegant minimalism just when it needed it, gave me the impetus to proceed. Holding out hope against triteness, SoundCloud’s arrow revealed the sound of something significant sounding, quixotic and imbued with perfect pop sensibilities. The poetry-in-motion lyrics of an idealized girl and queen of cast-off treasure cascaded over an infectious song of all what life can be with or without all the entanglements and fault lines.

New Wave Vernacular 

With the band not taking the now standard Bandcamp route, some digital back roads needed to be explored. Amarillo’s Panhandle PBS featured some some high production footage of the band in their “Yellow City Sound” studio and provided the much needed visual. Their stampeding and taunt "Tornado Dream" presented a "wiry" guitarist gliding across the sound stage with a Yuna Kim-like focus, while looking like one of the students in “Dead Poets Society" in a snappy Western shirt. "Tornado Dream" revealed an alloyed band with the guitars clashing, converging and intertwined like Big Country or Chisel while the overall song is a catchy as a 20/20 single. This small sampling revealed something was happening here in the musicianship, lyrics and overall sound that was more than a sum of the parts. 

Backtracking 

Next, I tried to connect the geographic dots, while subscribing to the isolation theory of bands developing distinctive sounds away from the Lite-Bright cities. Amarillo, Texas was not some a place that I thought about on a yearly basis beyond knowing that it was somewhere out in the Country of Texas west of Austin, Houston, Dallas or San Antone. Wikipedia revealed Terry “Suspicion" Strafford and Jimmy "Sugar Shack" Gilmer were from Amarillo, while Buddy Holly's Lubbock is 120 miles to the south.  A sidetrack to the the Light in the Attic Records website reminded me that the Kitchen Cinq were kicking around Amarillo before connecting with Lee Hazlewood and recording an outstanding album in Los Angeles overflowing in reverb.  I then followed the map and saw that Amarillo was affixed to Route 66 and clasped in with old Southwestern favorites like Albuquerque and Flagstaff.

Case of the Missing Guitarist 

Later, I watched a YouTube video of the band playing live in Austin at Weinermania 2015 as part of SXSW, but the supporting guitars behind talented lead singer Michael Blackwell took on overt and unsubtle ex-metalhead tinge. I learned that the missing undercurrent of sound was the aforementioned slight country gentleman Hayden Pedigo, an acclaimed and accomplished guitarist on his own right. This Texas Monthly featured musician makes records that take an entirely different direction from Western Plaza, but are mightily impressive even if I'm not one in position to assess John Fahey-inspired American Primitive work. The sound of his debut "Seven Years Late" record is evocative of the lunar land between names on a Texas road map and could have been used on the “Boyhood” soundtrack--if the film continued through all of Mason’s college years. In Paste Magazine, Hayden states he admires the multi-leveled production work of Phil Spector and Brian Wilson and would like to take Western Plaza in that direction. The impressive arrangement of Western Plaza's “When It’s Over” already leans that way in the how it turns, shifts tiers and expands out in such a pleasing way.


For the Record 

Western Plaza has a head turning "where did that come from" sound despite being seemingly isolated in the ol' Republic of Texas. An expanded perspective reveals their distinctive regionalism while being connected to overall continuity of Route 66. Their debut album (somewhere between an EP and a LP) presents of an emerging band who have forged their own present pop sound while being in alignment with the long, glorious and always running American line led by Chuck Berry, the Beach Boys and late-'70s Power Pop. Along the way, they tunnel into the stomp 'n' snarl of 1966 Five Americans garage rock and span out to swirling psych pop of Strawberry Alarm Clock before arriving at the station of Hoodoo Gurus. Western Plaza is an apt name of a rock & roll band on the Southwest horizon who have a sound that is placing them on the map.

Top Sounds & Words of 2014

01- Paul Collins-Feel the Noise

02. The Pen Friend Club-Sound of the Pen Friend Club
03. Mystic Braves-Desert Island
04. Miriam-Nobody's Baby
05. The Ugly Beats-Brand New Day
06. Momo-Sei-Umareta
07. The Yearning-Dreamboats & Lemonade
08. The Flight Reaction-S/T
09. Outrageous Cherry-The Digital Age

10. The Real Kids-Shake...Outta Control
11. The Muffs-Whoop Dee Doo

Top Compilations (VARIOUS ARTISTS)
01.    Sha-Boom Bang:
         Vintage Arizona Doo Wop, R& B, Soul, Funk: 1956-71
02.   Desert Doo Wops 1956-1968

Top Books

01.  Pacific Ocean Park: The Rise and Fall of Los Angeles' Space Age Nautical Pleasure Pier-by Christopher Merritt , Domenic Priore , Brian Wilson (Foreword)
02. A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music of Alex Chilton, From Box Tops to Big Star to Backdoor Man by Holly George-Warren
03. Wounds to Bind: A Memoir of the Folk-Rock Revolution by Jerry Burgan, Alan Rifkin  
04. What's Exactly the Matter with Me?: Memoirs of a Life in Music-by P.F. Sloan, S.E. Feinberg 
05. Benson: The Autobiography by George Benson, Alan Goldsher 
06. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!: The Story of Pop Music from Bill Haley to Beyoncé by Bob Stanley 
07. Strat in the Attic: Thrilling Stories of Guitar Archaeology by Deke Dickerson
08. Buck 'Em! The Autobiography of Buck Owens by Randy Poe, Buck Owens 

Top Sounds of 2013

Top Albums and Singles

01- Peach Kelli Pop-Peach Kelli Pop II

02. The Hot Shots-Sample My Kissin'
03. The Beat-"Baby I'm In Love With You" 
04. The Last-Danger
05. The Higher State-s/t

06. The Jay Vons-Night (Was Stealing From the Sun)
07. The Woggles-The Big Beat
08. Wild Honey-Big Flash
09. Transistors-Is This Anything?
10. The Wrong Words-Everything is Free

Top Compilations (VARIOUS ARTISTS)

01.  Pop Yeh Yeh: Psychedelic Rock from Singapore & Malaysia 1964-1970 (Subliminal Sounds)

02.  The Mascot Records/Jack Curtis Story 1958-1973 
03.  Book A Trip 2: More Psych-Pop Sounds Of Capitol Records (Now Sounds)
04.  Eccentric Soul-The Dynamic Label (The Numero Group)
05. I'm Losing Tonight-30 moody,garage-Folkpunk gems from the Midsixties

Top Archival Releases  

01. Tandyn Almer – Along Comes Tandyn  

02. Alex Chilton-Electricity By Candlelight-NYC 2/13/97. 
03. Jonathan Richman-"Living Room Demos" aka "Solo Acetate" (1973/1974)

Top Shows

01. Benedict Arnold & the Traitors w/ Mark Lindsey (San Diego)
02. The Rising Ramrods/ Nashville Ramblers/Ty Wagner (San Diego)
03. The Beat/The Maxies (Phoenix)
04. The Yellow Payges (Phoenix)
05. El Chicano (Chandler, AZ)

Top Documentaries

01.The Undertones-Here Comes the Summer BBC4
02. Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me

Top Books
01. The Rhino Records Story by Harold Bronson
02. Shell Shocked: My Life with the Turtles, Flo and Eddie, and Frank Zappa by Howard Kaylan
03. Everything's Coming Up Profits; The Golden Age of Industrial Musicals by Steve Young & Sport Murphy
04. Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir by Linda Ronstadt 
05. The Stone Roses: War and Peace by Simon Spence

Comeback of the Year
The Flamin' Groovies

Rest in T'ai chi ch'uan peace~Lou Reed
Rest in Hawaiian Spirit~Bob Jones (We Five)

Rest en La Paz~Paul Williams

Top Sounds of 2012

01. The Explorers Club-Grand Hotel
02. Yani Martinelli-Bubble Station
03. Veronica Falls-s/t
04. Various-Pop Punk Mania Japan (KOGA)
05. Palomar-Sense & Antisense
06. The Resonars-Long Long Thoughts EP
07. The Young Fresh Fellows-Tiempo de Lujo
08. Beachwood Sparks-The Tarnished Gold
09. Los Kahunas

Top Live/Reissues/Archival/Comps/Out-of-print/Books:
01. The Beach Boys-Phoenix-Grand Canyon University
02. "TeenBeat Mayhem!" by Mike Markesich
03. Evol (unassuming Nightcrawlers bent that is threadbare precious, but not rickety)
04. Spur-Spur Points

05. Various -It's Zimmerman's World...We Just Live In It

Top 11 of 2011

01. Dreamdate-Melody Walk
02. The Cynics-Spinning Wheel Motel
03. The Higher State-Freakout at the Gallery
04. The High Llamas-Talahomi Way
05. Bad Sports-Kings of the Weekend
06. Shonen Knife-Osaka Ramones
07. The Thunderchiefs-The Interstellar Sounds of
08. Chris Sprague-Miles Ahead
09. The Feelies-Here Before
10. The Baseball Project-Volume 2: High and Inside
11. Fleet Foxes-Helplessness Blues

Top Reissues/Archival/Comps/Out-of-print:
01. The Beach Boys-The Smile Sessions
02. News-Hot Off the Press
03. Various-Fading Yellow-Volume 13
04. 60s (mostly) uncomped-Hala Hala-a-Go-Go! (Volumes 1-4)
05. Vincent Bell-Airport Soundtrack

Surf Beat by Kent Crowley

Surf Beat does a commendable job of providing the cultural context for the three waves of surf music. One of the strong points is the author provides more than the usual coverage of the technical developments and innovations of the musical instruments and amplifiers with obvious nods to Fender. Crowley also seems to know and express the local history and color stretching from the beaches, through the valleys, to the near vicinity of the San Gabriel Mountains where "Pipeline" was recorded at Pal Recording Studio in now Rancho Cucamonga. (I seem to recall that he wrote of the 1839 Mexican land grant of Rancho Cucamonga in Great God Pan Magazine over a decade ago.) He's especially good at capturing the internecine feuds between musicians and regions and provides the space to operate under a sort of Fairness Doctrine. Other strengths of Crowley are his positive & insightful assessments of the early 70's Beach Boys albums that "embraced technology while making music about nature." The section on second wave of surf music (led in part by John Blair) which coincided and converged with the punk/new wave movement, is especially welcomed as history is scattered on this era beyond the primary source documents.

News: Hot Off The (Private) Press

From an overview perspective, Hot Off the Press is a wonderful 1974 anomaly fed from the mainstream tributaries/currents of the Lovin’ Spoonful and the ‘70s Beach Boys, along with some distant echoes of pop-era Don and the Goodtimes, New Colony Six, and from around the bend “Blew Mind” Hardtimes. Moving beyond the banks and inland, the City & Western harmonies of Moby Grape, Buffalo Springfield, Spur and the Everpresent Fullness stretch over the old territorial frontiers.

The extraordinary thing here is there was no particular reason for this extinct sound in the "lost years" of the early ‘70s. Whether you hold the perspective that that the floor suddenly came out from under 1968 world, along with concomitant music scene, due to the rough waters or if things just slowly sunk into the inevitable major slump, this record carries forth the Wilsonesque tradition of extending the sunshine dreams and healing music of the mid-‘60s into the harsh early ‘70s. The continuing story is that News with its convergence of steel guitar with harmonies created a distinctive American sound, once heard only in rarified circles, that has endured over the shifting currents of time.

Who Wants Yesterday's Papers?
Hot off the Press is not simply a nice, somewhat underrated, cul-de-sac into escapism like Flash Cadilac and The Continental Kids’ Sons Of The Beaches album. The album is not only suspended in time, but the unfolding music, at times, has a suspended in air quality. After spinning through the noise of the dial on “Radio Blahs,” the noise is cast aside and the signal is found in the song “Loser” with its interlocking parts driven by a steel guitar, propulsive percussion and ascendant melodies converging and diverging in unexpected, but magnificent directions. By the time of the call and response, new vistas and unification are reached and everything fits together like the design of a ‘67 Mercury Cougar. With their flourishing arrangements and melodic magnetism, were News holdovers or holdouts for the mid-sixties sounds? Or were they simply unabashed believers in that magic that the Lovin’ Spoonful once sang about. “Oh La La” is as sparkling and remarkable as spotting one of those Peter Max-ish Uncola signs still hanging in one of those out the way and trapped in another time rural towns. This is sound the Beach Boys were looking for throughout most of the ‘70s. Next, “Farmer’s Daughter” comes charging out of the gate in full force spurred by the big soaring spirit of Moby Grape blazing over some deep Grass Roots tangled under explosed sections of some pizzicato'ed “Pipeline.” They truly find the hidden door to 1967 on this one.

Who Loves the Sun…Not Everyone?
Overall, “Misty Day,” reminds me of leaving 1981 Daytona Beach at sunset, and looking down the beach as miles and miles of traffic was leaving the day. All seemed connected by the good vibes and active day not etched into redundant routines or divided up trying to get obligations done. It also reveals the path of working towards some notion of leisure that can be futile as scooping sand in face of the lapping tide. Further, the song serves as a reminder of the relinquished sense of wonder resulting from being removed from the experience of rising & setting sun and out being truly out of step with nature. The incandescent song floats and veers into realms evocative of the best Strawberry Alarm Clock. The steel guitar meander like the coastal 101 while the climbing harmonies cut through the marine layer and reveal the trinity of Mountains, Oceans and Sun. The fact that this unfolding song, full of contrast, leans more towards the ‘Clock than the “Ventura Highway” of America is probably the major reason News never made a breakthrough to 1974 mainstream listeners (who were only on the verge of reaccepting the “Endless Summer” packaged Beach Boys). Accordingly, the recording industry followed suite and the album only received nominal interest from Epic Records. The seagull sounds in the intro and fade are like flashes of ’60s lightning on the cluttered horizons of '70’s.

You Can Always Go Downtown?
“Easy Street” and the entire album for that matter contradict the academic origins of this band based around Yale University in New Haven. Frequently, albums emanating from Higher Education sound over-contrived in their “progressive” attempt to achieve high art. Actually, it sounds years and miles removed from the academic milieu (in its worst tied-down incarnations), The band’s sensibility, ingenuity and approach does not sound studied or measured, it just sounds right. The playful “Easy Street” has a West Coast vibe all over it that belies both their Ivy League and the Northeast origins while also transcending that dated “good-timey” sound. The CD format allows for “Easy Street” to flow smoothly into the more cerebral “Pine Tree Heaven.” In this jaunt out to the rural routes, the album hits its pinnacle and reaches the possible peace and clean air you get in a mountain town enwreathed in trees away from the heat reflecting sprawl of the flatlands. The topography evoked comes off more as the human scale Smokey Mountains than the towering Rockies. In a way, the song chronicles the move of seekers from the downtown to the downhome. Still, “Pine Tree Heaven” does not present a clean and easy break and laments when “Downtown” both as a locale and a song used mean something—something hopeful. This is just one of the many nods to a higher profile group or song from this low to no profile group. These references are kept in check and work in the context of the songs without being corny or hagiographic.

Postflyte
“One Night Stands” and “Angie” turn down the brain wattage and tries to out bar rock CCR, the Stones, Brownsville Station or even Ron Loney-era Flamin' Groovies, but it does not really work. These missteps present an entirely different sounding band, with "Angie" being the superior of the inferior songs. “New York City” ends the proper album on a subtle and jazzy note taking a low rent “Light My Fire” excursion. The song is proficient, but lacks the Byzantine vibrancy of the said comparison. However, the song is a true grower and one hears new aspects of it with each listen. Two previously unreleased songs are affixed to the proper album. The brief instrumental “Dynamic Radio Spot Bed” actually sounds somewhere between a 5D Byrds backing track and Index. A demo of “Misty Day” closes out the album. Characteristic of most demos, this doesn’t have the lift off or the dimensions of the full spectrum album version. Still it’s endearing to hear the brittle as stucco quality of this practice run.

Sunshine Dreams, Indeed
Yoga Records and Riverman Music (Korea) have been providing an important countercurrent in the reissue scene by opening artist-authorized doors to‘70s private press albums that listeners (without a fat wallet and surplus time) could only previously read about in The Acid Archives. With its distinctive overlay of steel guitar intertwined with majestic harmonies, News could have been forerunners of a new movement, but got lost in shuffle between the critically sanctioned Cosmic Americana of the Flying Burrito Brothers, the cult of Gram Parsons and the popular commercial radio friendly sounds of America and David Gates/Bread (who do have their pop moments). Aspects of Hot Off the Press could have been said to anticipated the desert boots/ Calming Seas scene led by the Beachwood Sparks, Brother Brian bands like the Heavy Blinkers, the earnest & plaintive and melodic Volebeats and most recently in the realized rustic Americana of Fleet Foxes. However, this album was buried very deep at the turn of the last century to make any type of correlation. Hearing this inspired album for the fist time is 2011 is like an Asian zig-zag bridge allowing for a new perspective on 1974, while expressing the timeless hope in something better.

Top 10 of 2010

01. The Volebeats-s/t
02. The Surfites-The Surfites and Co.
03. The Hot Shots-Teen Street
04. The Riverdales-Tarantula
05. Jonathan Richman-O Moon, Queen of Night on Earth
06. The Ugly Beats-Motor!
07. Outrageous Cherry-Seemingly Solid Reality
08. The Mullens-It's Hard to Imagine
09. Ted Leo-The Brutalist Bricks
10. The Parting Gifts-Strychnine Dandelion

Top Reissues/Archival/Comps/Out-of-print rips:
01. Book a Trip: Psych Pop Sounds of Capitol Records
02. The Servicemen-Meet...The Servicemen
03. XIT – Entrance
04. Spur-Spur of the Moments
05. Tracey Dey-The Singles Collection-1962-1966

Single of the Year:
The United Space League-"Water Under The Bridge/"You Told Me a Lie"

United Space League: Mission 66 and Beyond

Prestage
August is always the cruel(l)est month in the low desert of Arizona, when one is spurred from car AC to building AC by a nasty humidity that imposes itself over the default heat. It quickly makes one start Coastal California Dreaming where even the parking lot of the Oxnard Costco takes on a magical and mythical aura with its sparkling 74 degrees of warm sun and cool breezes. I try to tell myself that August is equivalent to February in the dirty snow Midwest and a countdown to the autumnal equinox offers artificial solace. Frequently, the Bell Notes’ famous declaration of “I’ve Had It” comes to mind--wishing the 114 degrees summer days would speed up as I reach into a toaster-oven mailbox engulfed with utility bills and stuffed with wasteful redplum.com flyers. A few blazing desert days ago, I spotted a yellow maize envelope underneath the daily detritus--signaling something I actually wanted. My mind reeled to do a quick recent ordering inventory: Was this the new Surfites disc on Double Crown Records? Or perhaps the always welcomed appearances of one of the last standing print zines like Ugly Things or The Continental. Seeing the return address declaring Royal Oak, MI in bold and black Sharpie strokes, I knew it was the latest from Sound Camera Records. The weight of the heat, humidity and workday lifted as I unfolded to reveal the lost art and hope of the 45 rpm record.

Side B-LiftoffGoing right to the flip “Water Under the Bridge” makes one wonder if Freddy Fortune is getting topical or has just rediscovered his Barry McGuire and Chambers Brothers records. Immediately, a galvanized “we’re not messing around” sound (similar to the final Fortune & Maltese single featuring members of the Gore Gore Girls, the Hentchmen and Jonny Chan himself) shoots through the circuits without losing any of the unmistakable character and continuity that stretches back ‘round the bend to “No Stone Unturned.” (Is a song titled “Don’t Burn Your Bridges” loaded up next in the canon?) Fortune acts as the town crier as he urgently proclaims the necessary overdue changes in the headline chorus between verses detailing the realities of the existing order and the continuous strife.

Eve of Destruction>Dawn of Correction>Ball of Confusion?Could all this be taken as an implicit treaty on the grand American scheme? Fortune confronts “the dread, the grief” of the fallout due to “Too Many People” pushing angles and agendas and destroying things in the name of progress while human dignity is being ransacked under the ruse of security. The question of overall collective direction takes precedence as we discern if we are scraping bottom or even worse apathetically letting another year repeat itself under a President, who in theory, has given the people the most hope since JFK, but in execution might end up closer to James Earl Carter-possibly due to the insurmountable mess leftover from the previous “full-greed-ahead” regime. On an individual level, how do we react to things seemingly beyond our control or even more counteract the unceasing and insidious forces that in Fortune’ direct words “are not good”? The ultimate concern can be conjectured as a lopsided sphere (without Sky Saxon) not simply spinning out-of-control, but directly headed to an Altamount-like end and Soylent Green beginning on a grand scale. All this weighty matter is packed and delivered with the urgency of We the People punched up with the toughness of the Woolies and the Uniques and snapped together with an underlying mid-sixties pop sensibility that make Fortune’s records so enduring and lasting when also-rans have long stalled out. A magnificent and stinging fuzz worthy of Davie Allan opens up a vista to a possible turning point. In the end, there are no easy answers, no easy solutions and most of all no retreat.

Side A-Tang Not IncludedThe top side original “You Told Me a Lie” written by Ryan Dawson, showcases their sneer, snot and snarl-- rendering them acolytes, but not mere reflections of Mirror-era Chesterfield King (the Stop album in particular). As a given, these songs are muffled by myspace where the clunky characteristic of the website and overwhelming flatness overwhelms songs. In other words, get the real thing complete with the “Hojo blue” deadstock labels if you want to hear the dynamic mono blast off and not two songs sounding sourced from a C-60 Kmart tape.

Out of this WorldIn writing this, I realized that it has been almost 20 years that I have been listening to the music of Freddy Fortune. His various musical slants and phases have all been marked by an unswerving devotion to the lost and found possibilities of the mid-sixties. I first recall his guest appearance at show by the Knaves at the Small Planet in East Lansing 1991 where he joined them on stage for “Little Black Egg” while outside mohican punks gathered in the plaza probably bemoaning not being old enough to see Black Flag or Flux of Pink Indians. Witnessing Fortune & Maltese and the Phabulous Pallbearers in their prime at Detroit’s Gold Dollar preparing for their 1998 European tour is likely the closest to 1966 I will get. Another time they caught me by total surprise when they covered “There’s a Storm Coming” by the Standells under a starkly incongruent band shell in a perennially overcast Sterling Heights, (MI) Metro Park. It’s hard to believe it has been over a decade since the Four-Gone Conclusions stirred up an international frenzy and caused a big bang with their big beat at the Las Vegas Grind II. Supposedly this is Fortune’s last band, however like faraway stars yet to be discovered, we could only be scratching the surface. With the United Space League, it’s time to explore these new sounds emerge and converge with the configurations of light and shape of things to come.

Meet...The Servicemen

Like sand slipping through the fingers, this one at first can be hard to grasp, but ultimately revealing an extraordinary sound and story when one considers the powerful forces converging and layering over time. So what exactly do we have here? The facts, revealed in the liner notes by journalist Dan Nowicki, are scarce and we can only surmise at the background history which originally brought this smooth four-part R’n’B vocal group together at Luke Air Force Base in the scraggly desert-floor hinterlands outside of Phoenix during the ’66 & ’67 Vietnam War era. Moreover, the extant recordings reveal sounds which stylistically feel as if 10 years dropped out between the session dates of 1967 and the elaborate ‘50-ish vocal group harmonies which surface to the air. Nowicki relays that Hadley Murrell, a radio personality for KRIZ, was approached by group leader Jim Mitchell during a 1966 military dance. Mitchell furnished DJ Murrell a revelatory demo that had the Servicemen singing out their hearts-frequently in doo wop harmony like they were from a "back East" paved over with asphalt and surrounded by floor-to-ceiling echo-enhancing tile. However, this is not your garden variety doo wop group (sounds I also enjoy) who made the common jump from the high school hallways & street corners to the recording studios whose sounds have been endlessly reissued in the digital age by Collectables Records, but a group who musically bridged the 50’s and the 60’s with the entanglements of ‘Nam looming right over them.

Murrell, who also produced singles and long players by the Sect/Bliss and the Caravelles, was instantly impressed with the demo and quickly booked them and produced their sessions at Audio Recorders in Phoenix-first put on the musical map by Duane Eddy and Lee Hazlewood. The resultant songs and even the song titles will throw you for a loop. With a title “Are you Angry” one assumes this is going to be a smoldering song of desperation and confliction, but what transpires is a first single which bound outs of out of the speakers with a ska-like skip and girl- group backing not weighted down by the weight of the world-let alone the onus of war. Immediately following is an a cappella version of “Are you Angry” which highlights the sweeping 360 degree vocal interplay swirling around Jim Mitchell’s smooth lead at the epicenter. The flip “I Need a Helping Hand” retains the sweet ska horns swerving across punchy percussion and vibrant vibes while Mitchell dashes out lyrics which could be a theme for all of us. An a capella version “I Need a Helping Hand” flawlessly follows.

The track configuration of the a capella demo versions tagging the single versions works like a continuous hand-off of a baton around the curve of a track. I’m glad these demos were simply not appended to the end of the disc as bonus tracks. Instead of being possible afterthoughts, the pairings flow in unison and emanate their overall solidarity. Another standout is “I’ll Stop Loving You” which was issued as their 3rd single and aligned them closer to the Temptations and Four Tops than doo wop’s golden era of the previous decade. Their covers of the Five Keys and the “5” Royales finish off the disc in a fine way and had me recalling the weekly glories of the "Old 'n' Gold" rare oldies show on the former WDTR-then (late ‘90s) operated by the Detroit Public Schools. Lastly, the packaging is top rank and so lavish that I thought it was a Japanese release when I first pulled it out of the mailing package.

In a way, the Servicemen were courageously ahead of their time because vocal group harmony had most folks headed towards the exits in ‘66 and ’67 and the doo wop/50’s revival didn’t get going until 1969. The story of the Servicemen is remarkable that they could create such expansive urban sounds in the incongruous desert conditions bridging two decades of musical styles against the narrowing horizons imposed by Vietnam War. Then again, maybe this is the personification and manifestation of soul.

Flyin' High

This new decade has seen me get lean in the direction of ‘60s R’n‘B while still embracing the folk-rock, surf, pop, garage, and psych sounds of the ‘60s. (I have probably been influenced by the book Sonic Boom reviewed below and revisiting the sounds of the Pacific Northwest.) This complilation disc featuring Phoenix blues, rhythm and spirit from the ‘50’s and 60’ mirrors my recent inclinations along with my long-time enthusiasm for regional history. With its Phoenix Suns’ colors of purple & orange and skycopter aerial photo of ‘60s era Phoenix (which is still more horizontal than vertical in its man-made nature), the top-notch graphic design resembles something that could have been released by Ace Records. Comprised of mostly masters, the sound quality is Grade A. Some favorites include “Oh Johnny” by Baby Jean which has the potential to be one of those perfect records to cover by the Detroit Cobras along with the blazing instrumentals “Flyin’ High Pts.1 & 2” by Jimmy Knight & Knights of Rhythm. Hopefully, there will be future compilations documenting the Phoenix scene of the ‘50s and 60’s that can join the vital place along side of Flyin’ High and Legion City-the CD which unveiled the glories of the mid-'60s garage scene in Phoenix, Arizona from the vaults of Viv Records a decade ago.