Lloyd Knibb. If you heard the early ska music of the 60's you would have heard his odd time drumming for The Skatallites and early ska recordings for Toots & The Maytals and Bob Marley & The Wailers. Passed away from liver cancer at age 80.
Jack Richardson: Produced The Guess Who, and later Poco an the last Badfinger album Say No More. Dead at 81. Also worked in advertising to which in Canada oversee up and coming bands sing the praises of Coca Cola. Produced Alice Cooper's Love It To Death in 1971.
When I go bargain hunting in music stores I always seem to run into Tim (last name I don't know). I managed to run into him out of town at the Iowa City music stores (the former FYE in Coral Ridge RIP, and Real Records) but we go way back to when we used to hang at Relics Records in town and we always managed to run a good conversation of music things. Tim being more into Henry Rollins and anything punk has actually graduated into more conventional music (Little Feat, Eagles (?)) and yesterday when he was buying Leadbelly's Last Sessions for the version of Black Betty. He asked for my opinion to what to get for Hawkwind (Space Ritual, In Search Of Space & Quirk, Strangeness & Charm my answer). In the small circle of friends that I do let in, Tim has been a great person to trade music ideas off from. Even though CR does not have a viable bricks and mortar music store, it seems most of the music buyers do hang at HP Books. Good thing we do have a HP Books in town, if there wasn't be no place else to find the bargains. Just ask Jim Kibler on that one.
Blogspot was down the past couple days but I wasn't around much to post anything but I am a little pissed off about some comments being left out. Starman wrote about the infamous ZZ Top remix and the Ozzy re recordings of his first two solo albums to which I'll never get around listening to anyway. I look at re recordings as alternating their art, kinda like Painting the Mona Lisa as a blonde or having a smirk. When the CD first came out in the 80's the Z Z Top Six Pack was a combination of their London albums with an updated drum sound that sticks out like a sore thumb in this day and age. I'm guessing that Rhino/WB decided to revert back to the original drum sound on the reissues but I really don't see the need to rebuy everything all over again. The only album it did improve was Tejas, since the original mix was flat but then again I haven't heard the original London album in years but I do have a 45 of It's Only Love. As for the Ozzy stuff, I think this is the fifth time he has reissue the GD albums and again I have the second updated version and they work for me. Sharon and Ozzy are going have to come up with another way to get our money. Again if the thrift store has any newer issues of ZZ Top for 2 bucks or less I'll chance it then.
I do follow and read posts from my followers and other folk and the way that I do that is sometimes throw a song in the top ten just to let ya know that whatever your writing I have read. Rastro's wonderful blog on Heard It On The X and the beloved Wolfman Jack whose XERB legend made me wished that he would have followed that format rather than the overplayed he was playing before he passed away in the mid 90s'. American Graffiti was the perfect soundtrack that began the great oldies renaissance back in 1973, not that it was dormant before then. The budget label Pickwick always had some kind of LPs in the 3 dollar bins, one of which The Happy Days Of Rock n Roll gave us a different version of Five O Clock World by The Vogues and Tommy Roe's Sheila (not the ABC Version but the early rare version) but also Chuck Berry's Mercury recoup of Johnny B Goode (ugh). Where were you in 62? I was learning how to walk. Sure Time Life has since taken over with late night info commercials of the overplayed (and with better sound too, wait till Half Priced Books has them in the budget section before you take a second mortage out) but the MCA American Graffiti and the followup More A.G. were essential at that time and gotten the youngsters who missed out to buy the 45's once again. I doubt if today's generation really cares about music or anything new that doesn't have to do with cell phones or wireless but I still say before the net, there was this little piece of heaven called the music section at Woolworth's and you can get them 3 for a dollar or 4 for a buck at Arlens. That's how I discovered Jimi Hendrix and Ray Charles.
American Graffiti gave the world the talents of Wolfman Jack and I did buy Clap For The Wolfman by The Guess Who and The Stampeders Hit The Road Jack (with the Wolfman making a appearance) and did listen to his syndicated radio show in the 80s. I also remembered his last appearance (thank God for spellchecker) on Married With Children. His passing was part of the reason why the music died just a little before Limp Bizkit, Britney Spears and the Autotuner killed it all. But that's another orange slice to be sucked on for another time and place.
Which leads us to The Ramones (or just plain Ramones). I don't claim to be a hardcore fan but more casual although having 10 of their albums makes me a fan all the same. And I still kick myself for trading in the original ABC distributed Sire debut. Something about that all yellow album and the purple S hypnotizing me on the turntable but whatever. Britzkeg Bop has been overplayed at every sports arena and minor league ballpark (which is why I don't do much minor league baseball anymore) and still prefer Loudmouth or I Don't Wanna Walk With You (the first Ramones song I ever heard) over B.Bop. But once Tommy Ramone retired to produce full time, they kinda lost me on Road To Ruin and End Of The Century still doesn't move me. Pleasant Dreams has sounded better over the years to which Subterranean Jungle got that dated 80's drum sound that clashes with the classic Ramones sound. Then they blew everybody away with Too Tough To Die, their last classic album which cemented their place as rock and roll punks. Anything after that was revisiting their roots without breaking a sweat although their version of Spiderman and I Don't Want To Grow Up on their Adios Amigos do rock hard. But now they're all gone, except for the drummers and C.J.
Rastro continues to provide great comment insight and good counterpoint. But I seem to lost my copy of Steve Miller Band's Children Of The Future for I've been tearing up the house and the 10 compartments of vinyl storage to find one fucking album that I have misplaced or hope I didn't donate it to Goodwill. Can you imagine the anger of me at 4 AM yelling I KNOW IT'S HERE SOMEWHERE and still coming up empty. So I'm going to try to look for the GD thing one more time before placing a order to get a replacement copy. Can't figure out why it's missing and I still have Born 2B Blue in the collection.
Finally, great to hear from TAD once again. The weather here has been cool and cloudy and rainy half the time but none of those godawful monsoons with tornadoes like they have been down south and in St Louis. I won't bitch about our weather, it rained most of the day yesterday but it was a rain that was there but not in sheets. I tend to get a bit more nervous about the four inch gullywashers and thunderstorms that keep you up most of the night. I don't foresee the ratings to be too high this month, there's going to be a decline by a couple hundred. Still cannot figure out why my second most read blog is My Girlfriend Thinks I Should Blog More Often, I think it's probably the worst blog I have done and for that reward get placed number 2 in the all time read. And why Best of 2010 and 2009 are in the top five but Best of 2008 is not even in the top ten. Sometimes shit outsells substance in the modern day world, which is what I think of MGTISBMO. But it is interesting to watch Beaker Street Notes duking it out with Teenage Depression, My Albums Of My Youth for fourth place. I could delete it but since it does so great being number 2 may as well leave it up there to see if it overtakes Best Records of 2010 for shits and giggles.
Ah, the joys of seeing our worthless neighbor's kid, playing basketball, texting, skateboarding and smoking a cigarette. And is a proud stay at home do nothing dad. Guess it helps having mommy and daddy giving him free room and board since he's too lazy to find a job that's the youth of today. One minute he's fighting and throwing papers at to the woman he donated his jizz, next they're playing basketball. Makes you feel sorry for the poor baby born into this. Not exactly the winner of the lucky sperm club. Oh well, I'd asked Junior if he wants to make a quick fifty bucks for diapers and formula to mow my freaking yard but he just looked at me funny and kept shooting his basketball. Thank God I never had kids, I'd probably end up with somebody like him. Maybe not, I'd would thrown him out or sign him up with Uncle Sam. I do things a bit differently around here.
And now since I can't find my Children Of The Future album other things I have been listening to.
Tony Ashton/Jon Lord-Battle Of The Bands (something I found at K Mart years ago in the dollar bins)
Julie Brown-Trapped In The Body Of A White Girl (I like them big and stupid, good for a laugh)
Scruffy The Cat-Boom Boom Boom Bingo
The Amazing Roger Miller (Who Shot Sam, Jimmy Brown The Newsboy)
Famous Duets (a strange collection of duets by Melba Montgomery, George Jones and Gene Pitney)
Golden Earring-To The Hilt (of my favorite album covers of all time)
The Ashton/Lord album is not like Deep Purple, it's more R and B sounding since Tony Ashton is more of a soulful singer than the Deep Purple screamers that Lord was working with and this effort has more piano as well.Wounded Bird Records reissued this on CD. They did one more effort with Ian Paice called Malice In Wonderland but I have yet to hear it. Julie Brown, once upon a time an MTV VJ (no relation to Downtown Julie Brown) made a album for Sire that I came across at Goodwill. Scruffy The Cat, my friend Bruce had a cassette copy of this album with Happiness To Go but it took me years to actually find the EP and this live EP. One of the forgotten band of the early alt rock years (late 80s). The Amazing Roger Miller is from a budget line Nashville/Starday LP found for 50 cents and was in remarkable shape being a budge line album. Starday was one of the best independent labels from Nashville started up by Don Pierce and the most hillbilly sounding label of that time. Who Shot Sam was actually written by George Jones but I was more familiar with the Roger Miller version since it was on a old country comp that my dad had in his collection. The Musicor Famous Duets was another oddity found at the Salvation Army that featured an in the round duet of Jones/Pitney, Pitney/Montgomery, Montgomery/Jones and Montgomery/Pitney with all three getting one song of their own. Most of the Jones songs are uptempo (I'm A People), Pitney gives us a very dark sounding If I Were and Gene and Jones tackle Ray Price and Melba sounds a bit like a female Buck Owens. A bit of fun in it's own way although Musicor didn't give us the better known I Got Five Dollars (and it's Saturday Night) from Gene and George nor Let's Invite Them Over from Melba and George. But then again I perhaps gave this album more credit than actually worth.
And finally, Golden Earring's To The Hilt was not one of their better selling albums but KUNI actually played Violins one night. I could never figure out if these guys wanted to be prog rock or trying for the charts (the single from this was Sleepwalking) with four of the seven songs going over 7 minutes long. Hipnosis, the place known for Pink Floyd and UFO album covers design the art to which I basically bought for it. But it always been my go to Golden Earring album for years more often than Moontan. But to each their own I guess.
Farewell Sahara Hotel in Vegas. They're closing down. More about them in another blog.
1 comment:
God bless you, brudda.
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