Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Various Artists - Chains and Black Exhaust (Memphix, 2002)



Various Artists - Chains and Black Exhaust
(Memphix, 2002)

Compilation of obscure psych funk 45s from the seventies. It's very good (of course).

Preview (Click to hear): Cynthy Ruthy by Back Merda, Potted Shrimp by Brothers Jackson

01. Prologue
02. Yeah Yeah (Blackrock)
03. Cynthy-Ruthy (Black Merda)
04. Mama, Here Comes the Preacher (Doug Anderson)
05. Showstopper (Iron Knowledge)
06. Dancing in the Light (Frankinsense)
07. Blind Man (LA Carnival)
08. Life is a Gamble (Preacher)
09. I Believe I Found Myself (Sir Stanley)
10. Potted Shrimp (Brothers Jackson)
11. Paper Man (Jade)
12. Get High (Grand Am)
13. The Devil Made Me Do It (Curtis Knight)
14. Alladin Story (Slim Haskins)
15. What's Good For the Goose (Hot Chocolate)
16. Who Am I (Tiny Tex & The J. Jones Connection)
17. Epilogue
18. Crystal Illusion (Creations Unlimited)

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Sunday, September 28, 2008

Jackie Mittoo


Studio One (the "Motown of Jamaica") music director, pianist, organist, and songwriter. Mittoo was a founding member of The Skatalites and has been backed by the likes of Bob Marley and the Wailers, Jimmy Cliff, the Heptones, Delroy Wilson, Alton Ellis, and others. Sit back, relax, and listen in.


Preview (Click to hear.): Gold Mine

"Can I Change My Mind" Coxsone 7" 1969
"Dark Of The Moon" Bamboo 7" 1969
"Gold Dust" Bamboo 7" 1969
"Gold Mine Coxsone" 7" 1970
"Moon Walk" Bamboo 7" 1969
"Our Thing" Bamboo 7" 1969
"Real Gone Loser" (2:22) Bamboo 7" 1969
"Sure Shot" Coxsone 7" 1968
"West Of The Sun" Coxsone 7" 1969

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Sunday, September 14, 2008

Shinki Chen - Shinki Chen and His Friends (Polydor, 1971)



陳信輝

Shinki Chen - Shinki Chen and His Friends
(Polydor, 1971)

Heavy Psych. Fuzzy Bass. Echoes in a cave vocals. As long as we're in the habit of comparing these lesser known folks to the big names, this guy is oft referred to as "Japan's Hendrix." Very chill, very good. Click it and dig it. Skip over the first track and I won't hold it against you because I tend to skip to the good stuff myself.

Preview (Click to hear.): Requiem of Confusion

01. The Dark Sea Dream
02. Requiem of Confusion
03. Freedom of a Mad Paper Lantern
04. Gloomy Reflections
05. It Was Only Yesterday
06. Corpse
07. Farewell to Hypocrites


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Saturday, September 13, 2008

Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain (Earache, 1993)


Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain
(Earache, 1993)

Like Black Sabbath? Try this! At least, that seems to be the consensus among most listeners. I like the way one Rate Your Music user has put it, "More Sabbath than Sabbath." Sounds good to me. Sleep are much talked about for their notorious "Dopesmoker" album. Outside of the novelty of a band that created an album of a single hour-long track, Sleep put together some fantastic tunes of slow, heavy, guitar and tap your fingers along drums. It's great music for when you're driving alone or just messing around at home. I suppose it'd be a good soundtrack for hitting the bong too, but you'll have to give that a go for yourself and let me know how that works out for you. Try it, you might like it.


Preview (Click to hear.): Dragonaut

01. Dragonaut
02. The Druid
03. Evil Gypsy / Solomon's Theme
04. Some Grass
05. Aquarian
06. Holy Mountain
07. Inside the Sun
08. From Beyond
09. Nain's Baptism
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Friday, September 12, 2008

Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline (Columbia, 1969)





Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline
(Columbia, 1969)

Yeah, it's this guy called Bob Dylan. You might have heard of him before.
I was driving on a lonely stretch of highway one afternoon nearly ten years ago, listening to the radio (gasp! radio?! what's that?!) when this then unfamiliar song came on and caught my ears' attention. It was "Lay, Lady, Lay" and I had no idea who it was but I knew I was in love with the man. Who could resist an invitation to lay across a "big brass bed" and see all the "colors you have in your mind?" Imagine my surprise when I looked the song up later and found out it was Bob Dylan. "Well, yeah...duh." you say? Well, this was a different Bob Dylan, a twangy, horny (though this may just be projection on my part), crooning, Bob Dylan. Apparently, back in the late 60s, Dylan grew tired of the "voice of a generation" persona he'd been labeled with and decided to turn his sound around and show another side, a side that said "Shut the hell up. There's more to me than that." Dylan was tired of the fans who expected more of him than just the music. He'd had enough of fanatics sneaking on to his property and disturbing him while he was trying to lead his private life, with his family. So, he recorded this album in Nashville, devoting one day of the sessions to duets with Johnny Cash. It's only 29 minutes long, which is a delight because you can enjoy it from front to back even when you've not got a lot of time to spare, it's a quickie. Apparently, there are better versions of most of these tunes on bootlegs but I've never really noticed that these studio tracks were lacking, myself. Now, I've got to give those alternate versions a shot. I wonder a bit whether hearing those is something like when you're young and you've been dry humping guys/girls for a while and finding it a thrill, only to eventually get down to actual sex and think, "Wow. That dry humping just won't feel the same now, will it?" Well, here's the dry humping, maybe I'll post the sex for you another day. ;)

01. "Girl from the North Country" (with Johnny Cash)
02. "Nashville Skyline Rag"
03. "To Be Alone with You"
04. "I Threw It All Away"
05. "Peggy Day"
06. "Lay Lady Lay"
07. "One More Night"
08. "Tell Me That It Isn't True"
0 9. "Country Pie"
10. "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You"

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