Traces of Tinsel Mecca: The Thomas, Garvin & Thomas Story

My Two/Three Sons

When I found out about a 1968 record from a band named Tinsel Mecca with a W. Tulsa St. Chandler address listed on its Toad Records label, I initially thought it was a social end product of a hippie house, not a 45 from the humble ranch of a former ex-major of Chandler (1976-1979).  Like the band’s evocative name, this elusive record and group took on a tinge of mystique and mystery when absolutely no information surfaced on the internet.  After reading through Jean Reynolds’ Chandler Mayor Stories interview with Ken Thomas, I surmised that possibly a few of his sons would have been teenagers in the ‘60s and possibly into music based on the family history that stated Ken Thomas’ mother was a contralto.  The same Jean Reynolds acted as a bridge to connect me with the two musical brothers behind the shrouded sounds.

On the Arizona Air

Keith mentioned with pride that the record was placed into rotation on Phoenix/Glendale's KRUX-AM by "Good Guy" DJ Al McCoy who went on to become the voice of the Phoenix Suns of the NBA.  “One time another student and I were returning back to Chandler from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff and we heard KRUX play the Tinsel Mecca record on the car radio,” recalled Keith.  Keith (Chandler High class of ’65) said he was busy with school up in Flagstaff during this time and the record was actually recorded at the famous Audio Recorders in Phoenix on one of the university intersessions.  He deferred to his younger brother Rick (Chandler High class of ’68) for more information on what was going on musically in Chandler at the time.  At first, Rick seemed embarrassed about the band’s name as it could be construed to be taken as insensitive to the current political climate in the world. “I still don’t recall how we came up with the name of the group as we were headed into the studio and quickly needed a name,” said Rick. “The song, “Life’s in Vain,” in particular reflects when one is 19-20 years old, with limited life perspective resulting from living only for one’s self and without notions of the grander picture.”

There’s a Place

Still there was a war raging on and growing disillusionment with the direction of the country was going. It was also an accelerated decade where each year contained a decade worth of changes starting around 1963.  Like countless others, Rick quickly became enamored with the Beatles. “It all pretty much started with the Beatles.  Sure there was Elvis, but the Beatles were the real deal because of their writing legacy and they influenced the world and still do,” reflected Rick.  “They directly inspired me because my background is of a writer when it comes to music.”  With all the seismic shifts, it was truly a charged time because no one knew how it was going to turn out.

The Toads Emerge from the Mire

Fittingly, for an incipient band known as the Toads they forged their sound in one of the area’s rare murky basements (an anomaly due to the local rock-hard soil) and on the outskirts of town. “The Toads practiced in a basement in Higley at one of the band member’s house at the time. His name was Danny Slocum. We'd also practice at Bobby Ryan's family ranch by Ryan Rd. & Arizona Ave.”  While they are still spoken with a sense of reverence by locals, Rick adamantly downplays any notions of being local legends. “The Toads never made a record or played anywhere but the Williams Air Force Base and the old gym at the high school,” laughed Rick. In fact, it was in the Chandler High old gym, that the Toads participated in the 1967 Arizona State Battle of the Bands, in which the Dull Brights (comprised of the three Walker Brothers and Armando Cordova) placed second in the state. “Growing up, we played ball with the Walker Brothers,” remembered Rick.  “They were from the Gila River Indian Community.”

Towards Tensel Mecca 

Rick was effusive when speaking of his brother Keith’s musical contributions. “We could pull off a cover of the Associations’ “Six Man Band” because we could do the harmonies and my brother Keith’s extensive singing experience and operatic training,” explained Rick. “He started taking voice lesson from an ASU professor when he was in junior high. He was in All-State choir throughout his years at Chandler High. He went on to major in music at NAU and sang one of the leads in a campus production of Madame Butterfly.”  However, when asked about his own musical background, Rick was succinct on his formative years: “I actually took lessons from Randy Garvin (Chandler High class of ’66) who was one of the best guitar players in town during the ‘60s, but other than that I was pretty much self-taught.”

Keith Thomas, Randy Garvin & Rick Thomas

From Audio Recorders to the Capitol Tower

Tinsel Mecca’s “Life’s in Vain b/w “Things That Do Exist” was recorded at the legendary Audio Recorders in Phoenix and released in late 1968 on Toad Records (#777), but supposedly did not include any Toads beyond the two Thomas brothers. As the ‘70s approached, the band was comprised of Rick Thomas, the aforementioned Randy Garvin and Keith Thomas and operated under the CSN&Y-like moniker of Thomas, Garvin & Thomas.  Rick was able to clear up some of confusion regarding band names and recording line-ups.  “The recordings we did were always with Thomas, Garvin, & Thomas, even when we used the names like Fencepost or  Tinsel Mecca on the Toad Record Label, clarified Rick. “Our first record together as Thomas, Garvin & Thomas was “Someday” (later “Love's Day”) in 1969. Sadly, the engineer didn't have the right levels and messed up the sound,” added Rick. “Audio Recorders was a nice facility, but we got a sound engineer who didn't know what he was doing.”

“When I told him the recording sounded distorted he said it was because of our bad amps. We were just kids, what did we know? When I went to California to try and push the record, someone at Capitol Records told me that the sound levels were all wrong and had nothing to do with us.”

Brother Records

The group later re-recorded on “Love’s Day” as the B-side of “I’m With You Jesus” on their own Brother Records imprint and featuring a W. Butler St, Chandler address. This time they were happy with the results. “I'm With You Jesus/Love's Day" had the backing of the ASU Jazz Band and ironically was recorded at a studio in Tucson, which would be hard to duplicate even today,” said Rick.  With Keith’s lead vocals “Love’s Day” naturally unfolds with its pull of undercurrent verses giving way to the sweep of the chorus waves.  The depth, layers and accomplished musicianship can be best heard on the 45 pressing.  This gem is reminiscent of the later New Colony Six and “Here, There and Everywhere” if composed and sung by George Harrison.

Musical Crossroads

In 1978, Thomas, Garvin & Thomas were based out of Seattle and the group committed to a gospel music direction which they continue to this day. “I went on to graduate from Arizona State University and then studied at a small bible college in Seattle where TG &T played in church, and then got my masters at NAU. Garvin also graduated from ASU as an art major. Some of the good musicians that I remember around Chandler were John Clapper, Tommy West, Steve Brown and the Cortwright Brothers who worked with us on the session of “I'm With You Jesus”/”Love’s Day.”  For the past 25 years, Rick has been instrumental in the lives of students in the Phoenix school districts as a music teacher. 

Randy Garvin, Rick Thomas & Keith Thomas
Photo taken by Ken Thomas at the San Marcos Hotel in Chandler, AZ

Shifting Sands of Time

This Chandler music history seems so elusive and vanishing as we sweep by the half-century mark. While the pieces are now closer together and patterns have emerged, sometimes the sought answers are not answers.  After all, it’s about appreciation in hearing the previously unheard sounds, encountering differing perspectives and keeping a sense of enigmatic mystery intact.

Acknowledgements: Jean Reynolds for aligning the stars, John P. Dixon who initially made me aware of the Tinsel Mecca record and provided the label information,  Keith Thomas for his recollections and connecting me to brother Rick.  Rick Thomas for sharing his memories and music, Lita Jo Thomas for all the photos and hand delivering a “I’m With You Jesus”/“Love’s Day” single.  Nate Meyers, Curator of Collections for the Chandler Museum, for the yearbook scans.

Louie Louie-Friend of a Stranger

Friend of a Stranger is like descending into a sacred miracle cave, however this is not a tourist trap or a Kurt Vonnegut Jr. allusion.  This is a sonic exploration to where it’s always 66 degrees with these cave dwellers of subterranean Philadelphia. After the gathering call of "Come Over," the directness of the Troggs and the Seeds branches off through passages illuminated by girl group gems to the foggy notions of  the Velvet Underground. Within the song “I Want to Dance with You” sense of time recedes as its soaring harmonies climb to forefront and fill the majestic cavern while a swelling organ cast flickering shadows upon the wall. These troglodytes lead you down some unexpected turns and tunnels where roped-off grottoes to the Feminine Complex, the Luv’d Ones and Slumber Party glow out of the darkness.  Their dashing cover of “You Still Want Me,” is one of the best covers of a Kinks song since the Pretenders presented “Stop Your Sobbing” as their first single.  Emily Robb’s voice actually takes on a Belinda Carlisle inflection that works within the context. "Do It (In Your Mind) " and "Miles Around" finds them marching in cadence down the angular steps of some herky-jerky new wave.   They quickly find their footing upon the Danceteria vibe of the early-Talking Heads, the B52-s, Double Fantasy-era Yoko Ono and even Julian Cope.  The watery and floating Asiatic organ of "Will to Find" taps into their underlying hypnotic pull, while transporting visitors to fuzzy new realms.  Hidden gold is found with "What a Man Can Do" which evokes the Bangles before they applied the super high gloss production.  The :35 minute tour fittingly winds up with “Keep on Dancing” which is not the Gentrys song, but an unearthed Ronettes number which manifests their ability to integrate their voices into an unified whole. Explorers of timeless sounds will resurface in exaltation and head out knowing that groundbreaking sounds are still echoing strong.

The Pen Friend Club-Wonderful World of

"We find only the world we look for."-Henry David Thoreau

Due to the elaborate complexity and the competency required to produce the multiple layers of melodic sounds, it’s understandable that there are only a handful of bands around the world that attempt to carry the torch of the Wrecking Crew into century 21.  Since their 2014 debut album, Japan’s Pen Friend Club have been the worthy heirs of the studio group behind some of the biggest and lasting hits of the sixties (e.g. “California Dreamin',” “Good Vibrations,” “Strangers in the Night,” “Up, Up and Away”).  For a contemporary group, they have been quite prolific as this is their 4th album in as many years.  While the band's lineup has fluctuated at times, the group’s main catalyst, Yuichi Hirakawa, has been the stabilizing element in emanating his particular sunburst pop visions.  His distinctive “yellow & orange” approach consists of “building castles in the air,” over a detailed foundation of Japanese-accented girl group vocals, vibraphone embellishments, and stacked harmonies.  While covers of the most enduring, yet not overdone songs associated with Brian Wilson, Phil Spector, Jimmy Webb are the towering spires, by writing, arranging and producing his own incandescent originals, which stand on their own, he makes sure the outfit is far removed from any reenactment acts.

With each successive album, the number of originals have gradually become balanced against the amount of covers.  This year’s release evenly splits the difference with five well-chosen covers and five uplifting originals.  It’s interesting that a few of the originals are now being sung in their native Japanese, which is a good thing.  As the group has gained more experience and momentum, they have obtained the smoothness and slight swank necessary to be in contention for a possible J-pop hit and/or television & movie placement in their native market.  (It appears from Google translate that Hirakawa did indeed write a song for RYUTist, an idol pop group.)  The standout cover this time around is the 5th Dimension’s wonderfully byzantine “Love’s Lines, Angles and Rhymes” which the now defunct KOY-AM would play from time to time.  While this has introspective mellow metaphysical 1971 written all over it, other sweeping and ebullient songs recall the sunlit days when Hallmark stores played Bread & the Carpenters softly in the background, American Spring records were in the racks and floral prints were all the rage. These jet stream California sunshine sounds soar out of this current harsh world--to a better place suspended between Japan, the United States, winter, summer, the ‘60s, and now.

"...and the emergence of spring is merely the outward manifestation of a process which has never seen any lapses in its motion." - Ben Edmonds

Khyber Mail by Sohail Rana

Get on board to discover some adventurous, vibrant, and bending music from Pakistan. At first, this reminded me of the watery organ music that I used to hear playing at the Hawaii Supermarket in San Gabriel, CA circa 2005-07. Subsequent listens of this 1970 album, revealed an unpredictable, yet accessible instrumental set that was written to capture and express both the overlooked details and the expansive vistas of  a train ride departing coastal Karachi and traveling 32 hours inland to Peshawar. With his breadth, depth and panoramic wide-scope, composer Rana could be conveniently compared to the grand Italian Ennio Morricone.  However common their final destination of producing state of the art soundtracks, they take their own singular initial approaches towards conducting sounds. While Morricone rides (South)West and constructs the colossal, Rana veers Eastward--slanting towards a deconstructive “Cubist” angle.  On Kyhber Mail, he first fractures the canvas of sound.  He then proceeds to recombines his main musical elements (organ, swirling sitar, vibes) and seemingly disparate shards (click-clack percussion, guitar twang, Doppler effects) into a cohesive whole. It all converges into a layered, propulsive and ultimately sweeping sound collage.  To place into a Western pop framework, it’s sort of a song cycle on the playful periphery of the pocket symphonies of Brian Wilson’s “Smile,” the exploitative and enduring sounds of the Nirvana Sitar and String Group, the lush villages of Martin Denny and Disney’s Main Street Electrical Parade’s theme “Baroque Hoedown.” With these tracks, it’s possible to explore unexpected sonic realms while rearranging your train of thought somewhere between the East and the West.

Dave "Baby" Cortez with Lonnie Youngblood and his Bloodhounds

Cortez is most remembered for his 1959 hopped-up & whirling instrumental “The Happy Organ” which was first #1 hit record to feature the organ as lead instrument. While the Hammond B3 organ was already established in jazz and gospel at the time, it was rarely heard as a lead instrument in the world of instrumental pop.  Far from being a one-hit novelty musician, Cortez was active throughout the ‘60s, releasing albums for Roulette with his overall sound incorporating more soul, jazz and funk elements as the decade spun into the’ 70s.  Almost 40 years after his last solo album in 1972, this 2011 release brings Cortez back to musical life and is the next natural step in his sonic evolution which included session work stints with the Isley Brothers, the Moon People and the Harlem Underground Band. This landing features the yakety saxophone of Lonnie Youngblood, who is most renowned (outside of his gospel work) for playing on some pre-Experience Jimi Hendrix sides in 1966.  Mick Collins of the Gories and the Dirtbombs steers the production which sparks like a bumper car and satisfyingly bleeds into the red on several occasions.  After a couple of warm up runs across the keyboard, Cortez quickly gets back into the flow of things and wipes out any perfunctory notions of an old-timers game. Highlights include the subterranean cool and shimmering electric piano flashes on "Suki Bomb" and the low riding Whittier Boulevard triplets of "Let's Do a Slow Dance." The bubbling "Hot Cakes" is where things get fluid and stretch out with molten melodies dripping over the already stellar schematic established in the mid-fifties.  The disc reaches its crescendo with "Flame Gettin' Higher, Fire Gettin' Hot" that rages with riffs that seems to quote the Beastie Boys' "Remote Control." Regardless of any possible (re)creative borrowings, this stomper is a true revival in all senses of the word. "Midnight Sun" explores some Wes Montgomery/George Benson territory before crossing over the currents of Booker T./Odell Brown and out to the expanses of El Chicano.  After all this time, overdue credit goes out to Norton Records for their ardent efforts in bringing Dave Cortez back into the driver's seat, so he can take the lead once again.

Top Sounds of 2016

01. Yea-Ming and the Rumours-I Will Make You Mine
02. Freezing Hands-II
03. Sea Wren-S/T
04. Britemores-S/T
05. Those Pretty Wrongs
06. The Higher State-Volume 27
07. The Pen Friend Club-Season of
08. The Real Numbers-Wordless Wonder
09. Mystic Braves-Days of Yesteryear
10. The Fleshtones-The Band Drinks for Free

Collections:
The Turtles-All The Singles

Various Artists
Last Of The Garage Punk Unknowns Volumes 7 & 8 (Heartbroken American Garage Jangle Misery 1965-1967)

Reissues & Represses
London Dri-Western Skies
The Turtles-Wooden Head

Bass & Word: Song of the Roots-Chuck Perrin & Bertram Turetzky

"In a higher manner the poet communicates the same pleasure.  By a few strokes he delineates, as on air, the sun, the mountain, the camp, the city, the hero, the maiden, not different from what we know them, but only lifted from the ground and afloat before the eye.  He unfixes the land and the sea, makes them revolve around the axis of his primary thought, and disposes them anew."

~ Emerson "Nature"

The overall impression of Chuck Perrin’s latest recorded endeavor Bass & Word quickly brings Kerouac’s spoken word recordings or the now classic Eden's Island by Eden Ahbez to mind, Perrin with Bertram Turetzky on contrabass combine forces to act as catalysts to the spontaneous life force springing from words, sounds and imagery. Employing the words of some of the masters (e.g., Neruda, Dylan) as source material, this is their valiant attempt to unlock the mind, soul and grapple with the ever-present, yet pushed-away questions of life and the eternal. Further examining its branches, Bass & Word reveals itself not merely an academic exercise or standing on the shoulders of giants away from the workaday world.  Perrin stands tall in his own right by threading in his original words which articulate life’s experiences in all its agony, glory and interstitial moments. 

Right from the start, Perrin jars listeners into consciousness with “Rough & Tumble.” This upending piece reminds me of surfing for the first time and being engulfed by a wave and dragged along the embedded stones of the shoreline. Within the unhinged “Jaberwocky” by Lewis Carroll, it's pleasing to hear Perrin voicing the musicality of the Tumtum Tree.  Unlike the Jojoba shrub, the Tumtum Tree revealed itself to be fictional upon lookup.  This is one of those better to be heard than read moments of poetry when spoken word can take flight vs. remaining flat on the page.  Perrin’s enunciation of this phrase rounds out the overall cacophony of this work stacked atop slanting percussion.  Poetry and music may allow us to delve into the sharp recesses of the mind, explore new realms and expand perceptions. However, all is illusory and transitory, as we frequently think we know where the performing artist is and going to, but it's the innate nature of the artist (and/or their image) to shape-shift and be on unexpected wavelengths. These notions have given rise to an entire cottage industry (running the spectrum from the remarkable Crawdaddy Magazine to the nadir of A.J. Weberman going through Dylan's trash) built on compartmentalizing and explaining seemingly elusive musicians (e.g., Lou Reed, Lennon, Zimmerman). With Dylan’s “All I Wanna Do,” Perrin inflects the work with the appropriate level of nasalness needed to express “That Wild Mercury Sound” which cannot be classified nor contained. 

Neruda’s “Ode to a Violin in California” unfurls and sprawls out like the desert or pavement atop the desert.  Even in translation, Neruda’s “green ink” comes off as accessible, generous and humane as evidenced in the rising and falling cadences of “Poem 53.” Perrin’s original “The Thrill” elucidates those given days or moments that are just “off” despite focused efforts to get back on track.  Parents and workers can readily relate to the phrase, “steady breaths have given way/ to habitual moans & puffs of frustration” due to all the frequent exigencies. In this instance, poetry may take shape atop fragments jotted on the backs of escalating summer electric bills. Upon initial listening, I was immediately convinced that “Chinaski” was a Bukowski original vs. Perrin’s own homage to ol' Hank.  With all of its seedy signifiers, it’s that evocative of the Black Sparrow bard.  In full autumn splendor, Bass & Word: Song of the Roots taps into poetry’s subterranean power to reconnect the wonder, while courageously opening up to reconsider the world above.

  

"Therefore we love the poet, the inventor, who in any form, whether in an ode or in an action or in looks and behavior, has yielded us a new thought.  He unlocks our chains and admits us to a new scene."~ Emerson "The Poet"

The Turtles-All The Singles

In a span of 5 years (1965-1970), the Turtles effortlessly straddled the styles of the times, from stellar folk-rock through timeless top 40 pop to an eclectic smatterings of styles simply because they could.  They were the recipients of vast piles of first-rate songs from the high tide of ‘60s songwriters (e.g., Dylan, P.F. Sloan, Gene Clark David Gates, Warren Zevon and Bonner & Gordon). Many of their shifts and swerves were illuminated with sunburst harmonies and requisite humor needed to stave off the chicanery of the music industry.  They were also versatile enough to be a singles machine almost ready made for AM radio and as an album group who would garner airplay on the FM stereo side with their more theatrical & experimental excursions. “All The Singles” presents both an introduction to the band –say a child hearing “Happy Together” for the first time or second time (as it frequently appears in commercials and movies) and as the current definitive overview of the band. For long-time Turtles listeners, what’s especially exciting are some the rarely heard B-sides and previously unissued recordings like the haunting and brittle “So Goes Love,” one of my favorite Gerry Goffin & Carole King compositions. It was not until seeing Flo (Mark Volman) & Eddie (Howard Kayland) live in 2011 at Wild Horse Pass Casino did I realize their enormous vast talents and what a hoot they are as a “musical comedic" duo.  Buoyed by its underlying classical elements, the night became transcendent when the entire audience sang along to “Happy Together” with unbridled joy. Like their namesake, they were not the sleekest band, but their playful and oblique ‘60s sounds have continued to convey levity, express elation and endure over the long haul.

The Banjo Story-Vol.I

While this has been reissued endlessly, repackaged under several different titles, cover variations, track configurations, this is where it all began in 1963. This Tabula rasa is comprised of some of the major five-stringers of the folk revival-era including two who would subsequently go on make huge waves on popular culture, Roger McGuinn with the Byrds and Mason Williams with “Classical Gas.” While I previously unfamiliar with some of individual names (Dick Weissmann and Art Podell), I knew of the popular folk groups they were involved with (respectively the Journeymen and the New Christy Minstrels).  I have since learned they are considered consummate players and are still active to this day.  With remarkable finesse, Dick Weissmann celebrates the Colorado Rocky Mountains on his textured “Trail Ridge Road.”  Meanwhile with “Ragaputa," Art Podell’s takes the standard ringing banjo sound on a journey of exploration when he enmeshes it with the droning latticework of raga--all in one jet age minute. Mason Williams’s “Banjo Hello” is suffused with classical flourishes that would later become his trademark sound. The ol' stirring Irish traditional “Rakes of Mallow” is prominently echoed in Eric Darling’s “Banjo Tune.” Dick Rosmini’s “Fast and Loose” is a highly-evolved breakdown that is so speedy that it blurs into drones at moments.  Lastly, Jim (Roger) McGuinn’s rustic “Ramblin’ On” might be the roots of the Byrds, but it actually sounds like Charlie Chin’s banjo work with Buffalo Springfield. The Banjo Story-Vol. I has been influential for over a half century as it encapsulates 12 distinctive approaches to the banjo, while expressing the resounding & ramblin' spirit of this transitional time.

Berry-Poptune

My 5-year old daughter became instantly intrigued by this album’s sound when I was playing this on the laptop the other night at home. She also took to the front cover art which looks tailor-made to attract any girl with its Pippi Longstocking-like figure floating atop the backdrop imagery of whimsical kawaii. Like so many Japanese acts, the influence of the Ramones plays an integral role. The main riff of the Ramones’ “Do you Remember Rock & Roll Radio?" is employed throughout the song "3 Code." While the Ramones (and Shonen Knife) inspire the rocking parts, there is a predominant pure pop orientation on the whole (somewhere in the vicinity of Peach Kelli Pop, Japanese TV theme songs and Herman’s Hermits). The melodies are fittingly catchy and unencumbered as the song titles (e.g.“Life,” “Pop World,” “Green Guitar”) while the Windex-clear production vividly reveals the springy guitar tones slicing through the Japanese and English lyrics sung in that endearing chirpiness. From the choppy Google “translation” of the Japanese characters found on the artist’s website, I was able to piece together that Berry previously played in two outstanding girl groups from Osaka (the Milkees, the Bunnies). Both of those bands were heavily influenced by American girl group Spector-pop like the Ronettes and the Crystals embellished with a dash of Motown and the vibrancy of the Go-Go's. All of these underlying currents, from both sides of the Pacific, lead us back to this magnetic album, attracting the ears of the young and the youthful alike.

Lesley Gore-Ever Since

Released over a decade ago, Ever Since was Lesley Gore’s first new album in 30 years and would ultimately be her last due to her passing in February 2015. 68-years young at the time, she was in the midst of writing her memoirs of her challenging, unconventional and valiant artistic life. While she was continually overshadowed by her contemporaries (Carly Simon, Carole King, Linda Ronstadt), and under-recognized by the mainstream critics due to timing of her hits and the seismic shifts in popular culture during the late ‘60s/early ‘70s, this American original did retain an international audience (especially in France, Germany & Japan) along with a devoted domestic cult following throughout her career.

With Ever Since, Gore rewarded listeners with 10 sophisticated jazz-tinged pop songs which emanated her conviction, textured wisdom and her vast resilience. The stirring centerpiece is a revised rendition of her signature song “You Don’t Own Me” that is not perfunctory, but interpreted from a different stage and station in life. Overall, the songs are contemporary and forward moving, but without the padding of guest appearances, rehashes of the Great American Songbook and/or glossy production which plague so many of these affairs. While her dynamic range evokes jazz vocalists from Pat Suzuki to Anita Baker, she’s ultimately true to her own distinctive voice and heart’s orientation. “Not The First” features an arrangement where the playful show tune verses expand out into a chorus of classic girl group proportions. The fitting swan song “We Went So High” closes out the album and a recording career with elevated elegance. Resolutely unconventional, yet non-abrasive, Gore was a strong-willed proto-feminist who continually overcame personal adversity and persevered in the push of popular culture. In the end, her indomitable spirit and timeless music came out ahead.

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.