sweet sweet little ramona

Forgive me, siblings. Infirm motherf@ckers. I am in transit, currently migrating to a custom domain, and neither of my search engines up here appears to function as 'advertised'. So. If I've posted this bit o' bob before pay it no mind.

Those three Dylan LPs I most often revisit are " Another Side"; "Bringing it all Back Home"; and "Desire". In no particular order.

I have not listened to a Dylan LP in its entirety since 1978's " Street Legal".

Two years before the shades came down. Do not chastise me if you ever backed the wrong horse. The embers are cold; the bridle lies in cinders. I am still wed.

Recorded 9 June 1964 at Columbia Studios, New York City.

▼ BOB DYLAN: TO RAMONA from "Another Side Of Bob Dylan" LP (Columbia) 1964 (US)

wash and go

I grew up with this song. An overly dramatic changeling from the start, easily given to outbursts of melancholia bordering on the derisively maudlin.

Originally released as a 45 on Monument in 1964, next to "Running Scared" this has has always been my favourite Roy Orbison moment; the David Lynch movie, "Blue Velvet" did little to alter that fact. It peaked at No. 9 (revolution) on the Billboard Charts, but made the No. 1 spot here in the UK, where record buyers may have been fewer in number but made up for it by being more attuned to quiet desperation. Something to do with the rain, probably.

Composed - in the operatic sense - by Roy Orbison and Bill Dees.


Of course, the longer you grow in the tooth the more you realize it's less to do with the "l" word than just getting on with it. The melodrama is just an unwanted complication; a tv movie you somehow can't switch off.

I've been saving this for a while. Like that last cigarette in the packet.

▼ ROY ORBISON: IT'S OVER from "It's Over b/w Indian Wedding" 45 (Monument) 1964 (US)

PURCHASE BLACK & WHITE NIGHT REMASTERED + BONUS TRACKS

cellular mutation

Why ?
doesn't a reputable telecommunications corporation invest in the development of a cellphone incorporating a built-in cigarette lighter?

I would certainly purchase one. Not only would it conserve limited pocket space; one might also entertain callers with the gasping soundtrack to a lingering death by infinitesimal degree.

My original intention was to use "Light My Fire" as a punch-line here, but since that's a trifle obvious let's go instead with something very similar in treatment - complete with keyboard solo* - originally penned by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for Dionne Warwick. Ha! But then I changed my mind (or what's left of it) again...

Goodbye George.

* The Stranglers: Walk on By, 1978, from the white vinyl UA 7" freebie featuring a three minute organ fill by Dave Greenfield very much of the same flavour as Ray Manzarek's.

▼ DIONNE WARWICK: WALK ON BY from "Make Way For Dionne Warwick" LP (Scepter) 1964 (US)

PURCHASE MAKE WAY FOR DIONNE WARWICK

interlude: bull by the horns

Sandy Bull:
January 1st, 1941 - April 11th, 2001.

After hearing New Yorker, Sandy Bull for the first time over on Art Decade in April last year, I decided to use his unique take on exploratory fusion to illustrate one of the first ever posts here on SibLINGSHOT ON THE BLEACHERS.

The following cut, from Sandy's second LP release for Vanguard in 1964 wings it's way directly from Any Major Dude With Half A Heart, who was good enough to bestow "A Major Dude Award" on this blog in the countdown to 2009.

Thanks, dude. Chuck Berry has seldom sounded so good.

Even when laid straight down the line by Charles Edward Anderson.

Sandy Bull: acoustic and electric guitar; banjo; oud; bass.
Billy Higgins: drums.
Produced by Sandy Bull and Maynard Solomon.

▼ SANDY BULL: MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE from "Inventions" LP (Vanguard) 1964 (US)

PURCHASE SANDY BULL @ CD UNIVERSE

tales from the crypt

publicity still from film adaptation of "tales from the crypt".
five part compendium; amicus, 1972.

"Screenplay by: Milton Subotsky.
Based on stories written by Al Feldstein, Johnny Craig and Bill Gaines, originally published in the Comic Magazines 'Tales From the Crypt' and 'The Vault of Horror' by Bill Gaines.
"Wish You Were Here" also suggested by "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs (uncredited)."























capitol T-2057.

Musical accompaniment from Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and his Philharmonic Jug and Juice Band. Vinyl rip courtesy of Dave's World. It don't sound right without them pops n' crackles.

Did The Cramps ever do a version of this ? They ought to.

▼ MR. GASSER & THE WEIRDOS: HEARSE WITH A CURSE from "Rods N' Ratfinks" LP (Capitol) 1964 (US)

PURCHASE TALES FROM THE CRYPT REPRINT CALENDAR
PURCHASE RODS N' RATFINKS
BIG DADDY & THE BEATNIK BANDIT ON BLOGORAMA!

24 hours from tulsa

new mexico. photograph by danny lyon.

More Hal David and Burt Bacharach. Perhaps an Italian image - something from Naples - would have been more appropriate, but this does it like the version plays in my head. MS-3015. I don't have a Spanish version of "Tulsa", but if you do please get in touch.

▼ GENE PITNEY: A POCHE ORA DA TE (24 HOURS FROM TULSA) from "Gene: Italiano" LP (Musicor) 1964 (US)

PURCHASE GENE ITALIANO / NESSUNO MI PUO GIUDICARE

pj proby: somewhere

james marcus smith, born houston, texas, november 6th, 1938.

Buccaneering brigand. Pioneer of the original living Davy Crockett cut.

From Wiki:

"Proby grew up in a banking family where his father was the VP of the Second National Bank in Houston, Texas. He was educated at San Marcos Military Academy, Culver Naval Academy and Western Military Academy. After graduation he moved to California to become a motion picture actor and recording artist. Given the stage name Jett Powers by top Hollywood agents Gabey, Lutz, Heller and Loeb, he took acting and singing lessons, and appeared in movies with small roles. Two singles "Go, Girl, Go", and "Loud Perfume", were released on an independent label, but were not noticed. In 1962 he began writing songs and recording demos, for artists such as Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash."

70 this year, Proby has resided in the UK since 1971.

"In July 2007, Proby was arrested on suspicion of a £50,000 benefit fraud. The Department of Work and Pensions are believed to be looking into whether the singer has undeclared concert earnings. He is alleged to have collected benefits whilst still performing around the country. Proby has denied the allegations saying: "I don't know anything about any benefit fraud. There is nothing in these allegations whatsoever." "

This is Proby's classic take on Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim's smash from "West Side Story", which scored a highly respectable #6 hit on the British singles chart and reached #7 on the Australian singles chart in 1964.

Ride out the credit crunch, swashbuckling banker's boy. A comeback is surely just around the corner.

▼ PJ PROBY: SOMEWHERE from "Somewhere" 45 (Liberty) 1964 (US)

PURCHASE THE BEST OF PJ PROBY REMASTERED

lewis reed, staff primitive

ingrid superstar & gerard malanga outside warhol's factory.
west 47th street, NYC, 1964.

"Warhol was a man of parts, most of them contradictory, which accounts for his nickname, "Drella', composed equally of Dracula and Cinderalla."
- Gerard Malanga, from his Secret Diaries.

Before putting in for overtime down the Factory, Brooklyn born, Lou Reed was engaged as songwriter for a number of small acts and had already embarked on a fledgling career as Lewis Reed, frontman for The Jades, recording compositions for the teen market as early as 1958.


pickwick city, PC-1001.


"Leave Her For Me" was released as a 45 on the Time imprint in November '58, backed with a joint composition with Phil Harris, "So Blue". Since even modest chart success eluded The Jades, Reed eventually gravitated to Pickwick City Records as full-time staff-writer, and in 1964 enjoyed minor celebrity fronting 'garage' project, The Primitives; generating sufficient interest with "The Ostrich" - a manufactured song in the 'novelty dance' mould - to warrant a string of live bookings hastily penciled in for the non-existent 'group'.

According to Lukas on WFMU - from whose post the following MP3 conversions were originally culled (again) - "that touring version of The Primitives featured John Cale, Tony Conrad, and Walter DeMaria."

It's unclear whether Reed was initially introduced to Cale through Pickwick's offices, but it is a matter of record that the two originally met in 1964, after Cale arrived in the U.S. from Wales on an academic passport to study classical music. The Primitives would first evolve into The Warlocks - with the addition of Sterling Morrison on guitar and self-professed occultist, Angus Maclise on percussion and drums - before finally settling into the less formal arrangement we all know and adore with the arrival of Maureen Tucker in 1965.

"One of the secret weapons of the Velvet Underground was Lou Reed's Ostrich Guitar Tuning, where all the strings were tuned to D."

The rest, as they say, is history.

Both songs written by Reed; Sims; Vance; Philips.

▼ THE PRIMITIVES: THE OSTRICH from "The Ostrich b/w Sneaky Pete" 45 (Pickwick City) 1964 (US)

▼ THE PRIMITIVES: SNEAKY PETE from "The Ostrich b/w Sneaky Pete" 45 (Pickwick City) 1964 (US)

LOU REED: THE EARLY YEARS
FROM THE WILD SIDE OF LOU REED (UNOFFICIAL SITE)

baden powell: the boys from brazil

baden powell: august 6, 1937 - september 26, 2000.

Forget Django Reinhardt, if you are searching far and wide for exemplary jazz oriented acoustic guitar, look no further than Brazillian maestro, Baden Powell.
"Born at the Varre e Sai district, he was baptized after his grandfather, a musician and conductor himself, whose father was an admirer of the Boy Scouts founder."

Originally recorded in 1964 at the age of twenty-six and co-composed with lyricist, Vinícius, for the Philips LP, "À Vontade", this vinyl rip comes from the 1973 compilation featuring four of Powell's albums, "Série Autografos De Sucesso No. 2". Long out of print, this beautiful song comes via Loronix, over in the big boys' playground. On listening to this, or any of his improvised instrumentals - however casually - it is easy to recognise why he is celebrated in Rio as one of the great exponents of Latin Jazz and its fluid, constantly changing patterns.

There are so many rich and varied textures in Powell's music that it becomes quite impossible to point to any one definitive era as a starting point. Zecalouro at Loronix provides some matchless pointers.

▼ BADEN POWELL: BERIMBAU from "Série Autografos De Sucesso No. 2" LP (fontana / Philips) 1964 (Brazil)

BADEN POWELL ON CD UNIVERSE

keep on pushing

remembering those ordinary people who refused to bow to tyranny. photograph by james nachtwey.

Nelson Mandela - along with seven others - was imprisoned on Robben Island in 1964 where he served eighteen years of his twenty-seven year sentence. While many people will of course be celebrating his 90th birthday today, let's all try to remember the struggle for democracy on the African continent is ongoing. As the crisis in twisted clown, Mugabe's Zimbabwe deepens just next door - and in South Africa itself with regard to Zimbabwean refugees - it is imperative the world doesn't lose focus. Any Major Dude With Half A Heart remembers his brush with the apartheid Security Branch in the late 80s and makes a compelling case for keeping Mandela's achievement in context while celebrating his triumph. There is no cause to be complacent.

▼ THE IMPRESSIONS: KEEP ON PUSHING from "Keep On Pushing b/w I love You (Yeah)" 45 (Karusell) 1964 (US)

KEEP ON PUSHING / PEOPLE GET READY

communiqué #9: breaking news!

flowers #1 by ib, SibLINGSHOT ON THE BLEACHERS.

Important and exciting breaking news over on Art Decade.
Love is definitely in the air !

nb: the continuity in today's flower theme is entirely coincidental...
But it's also a helluv'an excuse to break out the vino this early in the day! Wishing I could be there, dudes and dudettes. Cheers!

Written by Ellie Greenwich and produced, of course, by the fabulous if not entirely sane, Phil Spector.

▼ THE RONETTES: CHAPEL OF LOVE (STEREO) from "Presenting The Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica" LP (Philles) 1964 (US)

BACK TO MONO

garôta de ipanema

the girl from ipanema.

Written in 1962 by Antonio Carlos Jobim; Vinicius DeMoraes; with additional English lyrics by Norman Gimbel.

The first version - the original great pairing - is by Stan Getz & João Gilberto, recorded live at the Carnegie Hall in October, 1964, featuring Astrud Gilberto on vocals.

The second cut is a collaboration between Sinatra and Jobim for their joint 1967 album, recorded sometime between January 30th and February 1st of the same year in down town Hollywood. Produced by Sonny Burke.

▼ STAN GETZ & JOÃO GILBERTO: GARÔTA DE IPANEMA from "Getz/Gilberto #2" LP (Verve) 1964 (Brazil)

▼ FRANK SINATRA & ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM: GARÔTA DE IPANEMA from "Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim" LP (Reprise) 1967 (US)

GETZ/GILBERTO #2 REMASTERED

SINATRA & JOBIM REMASTERED

van morrison: the angry young them!

she's 'bout 5'4"... from her head to the ground.

One of the greatest defining rock n' roll moments outside of the U.S. was from this young Belfast group, looking over the water not east to The Rolling Stones or The Beatles, but west across the Atlantic Ocean separating one small island from an entire continent.

When George Ivan Morrison first visited the States in 1966 - supporting The Doors for a three-week-long residency at the Whisky-a-Go-Go - his namesake, Jim reflected over a drink or two that the two in fact might be blood related.

When Syd Barrett was dethroned in London, ex window cleaner Van remarked to Peter Jenner and a worried Roger Waters that the coup would pose no danger whatsoever to the Floyd's commercial viability, since all the teeny boppers who purchased their records no doubt thought Pink Floyd was the group's lead singer anyway.

This phenomenal 45 can still be found on many pub jukeboxes throughout Glasgow, partly owing to Morrison's Ulster Scots heritage. Put it on for a spin, and you automatically glance back over your shoulder half-expecting to witness an invasion of suited and booted young men wielding open razors and claw hammers.

Primal hormone therapy.

▼ THEM: GLORIA* from "Gloria b/w Baby, Please Don't Go" 45 (Decca) 1964 (UK)

ANGRY YOUNG THEM

* link removed by request