a mellifluous clash | a cobbling of posts

BYG 529.029. magick sibling, daevid allen. note the lower case.



gare de lyon train station, may 1968. on the cusp of toppling de gaulle.



smyth & allen remain in France. EMI insists on submission.

As the title suggests, this is in no small part a collision of two archived posts; from August 2008 and September of the same year respectively.

I have very nearly finished an often interrupted reading of Bob Chapman's "Syd Barrett: A Very Irregular Head". My own is muddied from the ill-advised combination of unhealthy preoccupation with the past and living in the here and now. Of revisiting the scene of an accident in slow motion while simultaneously avoiding pressing engagements.

Clowns and Jugglers; Chinese Whispers.

What makes for an excellent book is not its recounting the familiar, but the gathering of threads and dispelling of myth. An almost forensic shredding of layers of fabrication.

Nobody but a dedicated obsessive could have achieved what Chapman has.

So. Like several of the subjects Chapman interviews, I have often wondered what might have been had Syd managed to hook up with Daevid Allen. Not so much those members of The Soft Machine who contributed to Malcolm Jones' Abbey Road sessions, but the Daevid Allen of Gong, proper.

Painterly investigators of paranormal activity. Parachutists.

It's a big 'if', "Little Lib". Ad Libitum.

"I am full of dust and guitars".

Whatever the pop credentials of Syd's Pink Floyd - before it succumbed to its architectural bent - Roger Keith Barrett burned free form jazz. In later years, constricted. Living John Cage's "4'33"".

Inside a raging din.

Previously, September 24th, 2008:

More from London's Ladbroke Grove in the slightly gnarled (and bent out of) shape of original Australian Soft Machine member, Daevid Allen, a beatnik of wondrous pedigree and mischievous aspiration. Gong first chimed in early 1969 in Majorca with partner, Gilli Smyth, on the run from the police following the Parisenne student demonstrations of '68. Smyth and Allen drafted flautist, Didier Malherbe into their game, who they "claim(ed) to have found living in a cave on Robert Graves’ estate". Highly unlikely, but, in a world heaving with pothead pixies and governed by flying teapots, one can never absolutely rule it in or out.

Mr. Allen is a one man lighthouse keeper. A veritable Jonah The Baptist.

Written and performed by Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth. Produced by Jean Georgakarakos and Jean-Luc Young.

Recorded September & October 1969 Studio ETA, Studio Europa Sonor, Paris. Plucked and pulled from the ether with intuitive guile.


▼ GONG: (FABLE OF A FREDFISH) HOPE YOU FEEL OK from "Magick Brother" LP (BYG Actuel) 1969 (France)
▼ GONG: COS YOU GOT GREEN HAIR from "Magick Brother" LP (BYG Actuel) 1969 (France)

i can't hardly stand it, no-no #2

"one hundred years ago Detroit Electric...
could go 211 miles on a charge."

Not as perfectly distilled as the studio take which appeared belatedly on "VU", this version is allegedly recorded in Detroit, 1969; not San Francisco, as some copies have misreported in bootlegging from the bootleggers.

It very possibly pisses all over the same live performance captured by Bob Quine at The Family Dog.

And, alright. John Cale had run. Andy was no longer in the picture.

By 1969 he'd added a porn cinema to his portfolio and was otherwise busy pushing "Campbell's Soup Can II". Hot dog bean.

And his plans to cut a deal in Hollywood were given short shrift. At the same moment the Velvet Underground were rolling through the west coast, he was tied up casting Holly and Candy in John Voccaro's "Cockstrong".

Outrageous, when one considers those 'pogroms' off the hoof down in Texas.

Fresh meat was back on the menu.

Verve, too, was beset by financial problems and New York's finest were recording directly for MGM.

I believe I might originally have snared this one over at WFMU. Under a post by Brian Tanner. The bootleg is "out there", to quote from the X-Files.

There is only one solid reason to resurrect it straight on the heels of yesterday's take: the bleeding, tortured guitar solo which Lou Reed visits on the ear. A white hot foil to Sterling Morrison's and Mo Tucker's adrenalin rush.

Detroit Electric, somewhat ironically, pioneered the manufacture of a an automobile powered exclusively by a rechargeable acid lead battery. Production began in 1907, and at its peak its assembly line was turning out thousands of units on an annual basis.

While a steep rise in domestic fuel prices after the first world war did much to generate sales, its original USP lay in dispensing with all need for handcranking; and the potential for having your arm wrenched clean out its socket. Left for dead on a potholed surface before the engine even started.

The Anderson Electric Car Company was rescued after the stock market crash of 1929 and ceased trading altogether ten years later.

If "I Can't Stand It" doesn't give you a hard-on - or get you moist - you are in serious need of some grade 'A' pharmaceutical viagra.

"Sister Ray" up off her knees and prowling on the carpet. Verve to the wishbone.

Small wonder Lou got fat. Lazy. All Lestered out and drowning in lactated juice.


▼ THE VELVET UNDERGROUND: I CANT STAND IT (LIVE IN DETROIT) from "The Psycopath's Rolling Stones" CD (Bootleg) 1993 (Germany/US)

i can't hardly stand it, no-no

Recorded May 20th, 1969, NYC.

▼ THE VELVET UNDERGROUND: I CAN'T STAND IT from "VU" LP (Verve) 1985 (US)

a shoe box. strings. a rollerskate

Engineered by David Howard Baker, Apostolic Recording Studios, New York City.

▼ SONNY SHARROCK: BLIND WILLY from "Black Woman" LP (Vortex) 1969 (US)

anorak or fishtail savagery; let sleeping dogs lie

... and

before the skies cleared over Boomland, there briefly existed a sometimes growling sextet, Bulldog Breed. Featuring all three key members of T2 - in what I gather was a fusion of two minor league English collectives, Gun and Please - Bulldog Breed lived long enough to see the release of one long player on the fledgling Decca subsidiary, Deram Nova.

Rationing nuances of the sort which would catapult ...Boomland beyond the run of the mill, the material here is a far more derivative distillation of live circuit blues rock fare studded with an occasionally brilliant facet of pure mod pop, informed by the ever excellent Small Faces and The Who; some very Keith Moon drum patterns, especially, on the track "Reborn", with guitar from Keith Cross which wanders from classic Townshend windmilling into some - briefly - glorious Ron Asheton riffing.

Nice on uppers but largely unremarkable.

Believe it or not, too - given my previous observation on T2's "History Man" stylings - the album even features a harp laden instrumental called "Top of the Pops Cock ?!?!"; a John Mayall piece of tired effrontery which almost put me to sleep. Alas. That was my bleeding eared wish.

And suitably, given Pete Dunton's uncanny resemblance to Dougal from "The Magic Roundabout" (circa T2), there is even a throaway slice of whimsy with the same working title - complete with "Laughing Gnome" faux jollity - which would not be at all out of place on a children's tv show. Lyrically ham-fisted and all the more baffling since side 2 ends on the pseudo penny dreadful which is "Austin Osmanspare"; an overblown slab of gothic posturing which not even Syd would have been able to salvage. Saucer-eyed on Mandrax, melting centre stage.

Made in England, with everything bar the kitchen sink included at a discount.

Peter Dunton: drums, vocals;
Keith Cross: guitar, keyboards, vocals;
Bernhard Jinks: bass; vocals
Rob Hunt: flute, vocals.

Luis Farrell: bass;
Rod Harrison: guitar;

▼ BULLDOG BREED: YOU from "Made In England" LP (Deram Nova) 1969 (UK)

smile a little smile

Delightful schmaltz from the UK production / songwriting partnership between Tony Macaulay and Geoff Stevens; better known through their association with The Foundations - "Build Me Up, Buttercup" - and Pinkerton's Assorted Colours.

Owing a massive one farthing debt to "Penny Lane" era woodwind flourishes and cow lashed McCartney-isms, one also harbors a secret admiration for the way the middle eight almost meanders off through the overspill of trash cans from Ray Davies' "Dead End Street". A little piece of uniquely shameless English whimsy.

Tony Newman: vocals, guitars;

Steve Jones: guitars, vocals; Sam Kempe: vocals;
Stewart Coleman: bass;
Paul Wilkinson: drums.
Written by Geoff Stevens and Tony Macaulay.
Produced by Tony McCauley.

photograph by alex waterford hayward.

▼ THE FLYING MACHINE: SMILE A LITTLE SMILE FOR ME (MONO) from "Smile A Little Smile For Me b/w Maybe We've Been Loving Too Long" 45 (PYE) 1969 (UK)

ayatollah khatami: talking asshøle

sphinc•ter |ˌsfɪŋktə|
noun
Anatomy
• a ring of muscle surrounding and serving to guard or close an opening or tube, such as the anus or the openings of the stomach.

DERIVATIVES
sphinc•ter•al adjective
sphinc•ter•ic |-ˌtɛrɪk| adjective

ORIGIN late 16th cent.: via Latin from Greek sphinktēr, from sphingein ‘bind tight’.

And flaccid with it.

While Iran's favourite mullah shoots imbecilic spittle in his beard, and gets his knickers in a royal twist, the west should not forget for one minute that those recent events on the streets of Tehran mark a monumental development in the overruling of blind intolerance and contemptible rhetoric.

"Leading demonstrators must be executed, cleric demands."
- The Times, June 27, 2007.

Really. As the world hold its breath and ponders the remote possibility of such fanatical upstarts getting stoned - literally - by their own downtrodden peoples, surely the weight of secular opinion the globe over must dictate otherwise.

Whip it up, motherf@cker, by all means. It is what we have come to expect. The ritual incontinence of extremism and fatwa upon fatwa like spoiled sandwiches piled up at a wake.

In one corner are those who dare protest. In the other sit those who merely tolerate evil, and those who willfully abet in the systemic silencing of all voice of dissent. Public or not.

The killer clown has spoken. It is virtually enough to prompt one to pick up the sword.

Of course, this is precisely what the fundamentalists hanker after: a climate of terror which stifles any hint of dialogue; within their immediate circle and beyond.

Recorded September 19th, 1968 - March 7th, 1969 at IBC Studios, London.

▼ THE WHO: WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT from "Tommy" 2 x LP (Track) 1969 (UK)

whose badge ?

Smooth...
but the thing which makes it for me is Harrison's Abbey Road guitar bridge cutting across the zebra crossing. A couple of seconds of timeless, excruciating joy.

Did I say unadulterated ?

Written by Eric Clapton with a little help from George Harrison.
Recorder some time in October, 1968.

▼ CREAM: BADGE from "Goodbye Cream" LP (Polydor) 1969 (UK)

#3 of a 10-point program

"I'm talking about unity, brothers and sisters,
because we have to get it together."
- john sinclair, 1968.
 
"3. Free exchange of energy and materials 
- we demand the end of money!" 
- #3 of a 10-point mission statement,
John Sinclair,
Minister of Information: White Panther Party, November 1st, 1968.

▼ MC5: KICK OUT THE JAMS from "Kick Out The Jams" LP (Elektra) 1969 (US) [r]

purple heart, first edition

peace march, LA: april 22nd, 1972. photograph by bill eppridge.

Composed by Mel Tillis, and originally recorded by Johnny Darnell.

"johnny got his gun"Arranged by Glennn D. Hardin;
Produced by Jimmy Bowen.

▼ KENNY ROGERS AND THE FIRST EDITION: RUBY (DON'T TAKE YOUR LOVE TO TOWN) from "The First Edition '69" LP (Reprise) 1969 (US)

mayfly

may•fly |ˌmeɪflʌɪ|
noun ( pl. -flies)

a short-lived, slender insect with delicate, transparent wings and two or three long filaments on the tail. It lives close to water, where the chiefly herbivorous aquatic larvae develop.
• Order Ephemeroptera: several families and many species.
• an artificial fishing fly that imitates such an insect.
Happy birthday, Gus. More Taurean bullshit; from april to may.
Under current RIAA regulatory bullshit, and the closer than strictly advisable scrutiny that might entail, it's perhaps wiser to veer away from unwarranted and endlessly eternal speculation.

More, instead then, from the excellent guitarist and singer who famously told Led Zeppelin - The New Yardbirds, rather - where to f@cking stick it. Politely; after committing to the opening slot on the Rolling Stones' 1969 US tour. It was Reid himself who suggested Robert Plant as an option.

These two Reid compositions were originally to be found on his second album release, titled "Move Over for Terry Reid" in the States. Pencilled in to appear at Altamont in December - which might have done much to cement his reputation internationally in spite of that festival's notorious failings - Reid pulled out, or was dismissed from the bill, as the result of insurmountable differences with manager, Mickie Most. Beset with contractual obligations which prevented him from recording new material, Reid relocated to California to weather the storm, returning to England in August 1970 to perform alongside Hendrix at the Isle of Wight Festival.

"May Fly" is indicative of the direction Most pressed Reid to concentrate on working towards, to the exclusion of more Modish leanings; while the second cut here - a belter, in the best power pop tradition - almost anticipates the Glam racket of Slade, at the same time retaining the hallucinogenic sparkle of North London's The Action or the Small Faces at their melodic best.

Terry Reid: guitar and vocals;
Pete Solley: keyboards;

Keith Webb: drums.

Produced by Mickie Most.

Best wishes also to Beccy, Chris and James.

▼ TERRY REID: MAY FLY from "Terry Reid" LP (Columbia EMI) 1969 (UK)

▼ TERRY REID: SPEAK NOW OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE from "Terry Reid" LP (Columbia EMI) 1969 (UK)
PURCHASE TERRY REID: SUPER LUNGS (THE COMPLETE STUDIO RECORDINGS)

not john cale

Originally...
released on vinyl as part of a series of albums recorded for John Gale's Studio G Records, this is library music at its finest and most eerily familiar. TV Close Down.

From Trunk Records:

"Way back in the late 1960s a man called John Gale saw a gap in the market. He worked in advertising and didn't think much of the library music he was having to use for adverts. He thought he could do better himself. And so he started Studio G, with a short run of 7 inch singles.

not john cale. john gale.

These worked out well, and so John branched out into the big library LP world. And over the course of about 20 years Studio G issued a small amount of very successful 12 inch library albums across 4 separate Volumes. Hit rates for the label were high, and many of the classic Studio G tracks have appeared for years in important and legendary TV shows. Studio G tracks delighted children watching Vision On. It was Studio G that provided the classic music for the darts, and top crown bowling."


▼ DOUGLAS WOOD: MOON NIGHTCLUB from "G Spots: The Electro, Jazz, Folk & Horror World Of The Studio G Library" CD (Trunk Records) 2009 (UK)

PURCHASE G SPOTS ON CD/VINYL DIRECT FROM TRUNK RECORDS

death valley '69

Two of four improvisations by Jerry Garcia - produced for the original "Zabriskie Point" score - which never made final cut.

Jon made a point regarding a certain Navajo Indian's mistrust and "low opinion" of Brujeria, and Carlos Casteneda's meddling with those potent primal forces which reign out in the desert. Between cactus buttons blistering in the sun and the roots of jimson weed scrabbling down through the dirt, shadows lengthen or suddenly disappear:

"The desert demands that your movements be slow and purposeful. Your attention has to be external. You must pay attention. No wool gathering. The funny thing is, there isn't that much to pay attention to. I've found that, when moving slowly through the desert, paying close attention to small things, my emotions detach themselves from the anchors of reason. I have found myself suddenly caught up by vast and solemn joy, or just as suddenly pulled under by a sense of truly cosmic menace."
Myself, I have never made it out into that arid wilderness where tourists lose themselves in ailing camper vans.

The place of shamans and Old Testament prophets.

The atmosphere up here in the north is tubercular with precipitation; a seeping rain which collects in bones and rheumatoid joints. Leafy green. Thick with mildew and moss.

And in the autumn only, psilocybes and amanita muscaria; druids behind shades.

▼ JERRY GARCIA: LOVE SCENE IMPROVISATIONS (v.3) from "Zabriskie Point (Remastered + Outakes)" 2 x CD (MGM / Rhino) 1969/1997 (US)
▼ JERRY GARCIA: LOVE SCENE IMPROVISATIONS (v.4) from "Zabriskie Point (Remastered + Outakes)" 2 x CD (MGM / Rhino) 1969/1997 (US)

some velvet morning, 40 years ago

photograph by don snyder.

This version did not feature on Some Velvet Morning - Eleven Covers back in February over on the excellent How Marvellous, although Thin White Rope's definitive rendition did, alongside several other hitherto undiscovered gems. In hindsight, I am glad, since it provides me the opportunity to dig out this equally marvellous slowburning version of the Lee Hazlewood classic, from Vanilla Fudge's fourth album release which originally made #16 on the US Billboard charts.

Carmine Appice: drums, vocals;
Tim Bogert: bass, vocals;
Vince Martell: guitar, vocals;
Mark Stein: lead vocals, keyboards.

Engineered by Eddie Kramer and Tony Bongiovi.

As a bonus bordering on excess, given the unseemly length of these jams, I have also included the Carmine Appice composition "Where Is Happiness" - engineered this time by Bob Hughes, and following directly on the back of "Some Velvet Morning" - to demonstrate how this original piece feeds off the group's exemplary Hazlwood reinterpratation.

It seems unfairly rude to edit the two into one somehow. Don't "Bogert" the joint.

▼ VANILLA FUDGE: SOME VELVET MORNING from "Near The Beginning" LP (Atco) 1969 (US)
▼ VANILLA FUDGE: WHERE IS HAPPINESS from "Near The Beginning" LP (Atco) 1969 (US)

gram for gram, pound for pound

dennis hopper by andy warhol, 1971.

A joint
Gram Parsons and Roger McGuinn composition; originally released as the flip side to "Bad Night at the Whiskey" ahead of the new LP.

It did not chart.

The follow-up of sorts to Parsons' vehicle, "Sweetheart of the Rodeo", by this point McGuinn was the sole remaining original Byrd in a line-up featuring the great Clarence White on guitar (head directly for departures via the mighty The Adios Lounge for a definitive education). Parsons, of course, had defected too to cook up The Flying Burrito Brothers with McGuinns's former co-pilot and partner in crime, Chris Hillman.

It's a flatbed affair on four bald tyres and a cracked windshield.

Roger McGuinn: lead vocals, guitar; Clarence White: lead guitar, vocals; John York: bass, vocals; Gene Parsons: drums, vocals.

▼ THE BYRDS: DRUG STORE TRUCK DRIVIN' MAN from "Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde" LP (Columbia) 1969 (US)

PURCHASE DR. BYRDS & MR. HYDE REMASTERED + BONUS TRACKS

green mohair suit

A golden nugget in every sense. A jackpot of bile delivered on slick pedal steel.

I could wax lyrical on this for at least a couple of dense paragraphs, but why bother ? You've heard it all before, I'm sure. The sound of a jug band player with a failing liver and a gilded splinter through his heart.

Just be f@cking thankful it ain't Sydney Devine.

Gram Parsons: lead vocal, rhythm guitar, piano, organ;
Chris Hillman: harmony and lead vocals, rhythm guitar, mandolin;
Sneaky Pete Kleinow: pedal steel; Chris Ethridge: bass, piano.

Written by Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman.
Produced by Henry Lewy and Larry Marks.

▼ THE FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS: SIN CITY from "The Gilded Palace Of Sin" LP (A&M) 1969 (US)

PURCHASE THE GOLDEN PALACE OF SIN

put your boots on your feet

TI 7050.

The history of Caribbean migration to the UK is well documented, but full of contradictions and convoluted misrepresentation.

Between the end of World War II in 1945 and 1960, Britain offered free entry to its shores for all Commonwealth citizens, including returning soldiers who fought for Queen and Country. The infrastructure and economy had been severely weakened by six years of pouring its resources into the war, and Britain - like the rest of Europe - was forced to rebuild. Restrictions were deliberated on in Parliament and broadly introduced in the summer of 1962, but despite growing concerns which were to culminate in Enoch Powell's "Rivers of Blood" speech in 1968, there remained a real need to shoar up a vacuum in this burgeoning era of economic prosperity. In short, British workers could pick and choose.

As the direct result of a shortage of unskilled labour, the British government appealed for migrants from the Caribbean to fill those vacancies; jobs paying under the minimum wage. Many of those who responded were adults in their 50s perceiving a better standard of living awaited them. Indeed, there also existed no small demand for taxi and bus drivers offering a significantly higher wage.

Contrary to those advertisments placed in order to cultivate interest, those migrants were far from welcomed with open arms. Many of those new arrivals gravitated to areas offering the most inadequate housing then available, and - alienated by the indigenous white working class - became largely disintegrated from existing cultural mores.

Newcomers looking for short term lodgings were greeted with handwritten signs in windows declaring: ‘No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs’.

Skinhead culture, of course, originally had its origins in Jamaica, an off-shoot of the popular Rude Boy dance hall movement back in Kingston. It found a second home here in the UK, and was quickly adopted by disaffected white urban youth whose own roots lay in the Mod scene which had earlier embraced black soul and Tamla Motown.

By 1969, the release of Symarip's "Skinhead Moonstomp b/w Must Catch A Train" - as a 45 on the tiny Treasure Isle imprint - officially announced the skinhead's arrival. Written by Monty Neysmith and Roy Ellis, and produced by Graeme Goodal - loosely in celebration of the '69 NASA moon landing - the song is clearly Jamaican in origin; a command to "put your braces together and your boots on your feet." A call to arms as much as an entreaty to party. It would be naive, and quite unfounded, to suggest as others have done elsewhere that this adoption of West Indian culture on the part of young white working class youth had anything to do with with racial connection or parity. The movement was a very conscious rejection of the Summer of Love and what were perceived as very middle class aspirations. In the decade to follow, with its crippling union action and economic recession, tv sitcoms like "Love Thy Neighbour" would be considered legitemate fodder for family entertainment. Oh, and if you'd asked a Caribbean immigrant then if he considered it possible for a black man ever to be elected to the Whitehouse he might not have laughed out loud, but I'd comfortably wager his white counterpart would have.

Never feel obliged to romanticize the past.

In the late 1960s one could not set oneself more apart from the prevaiing cultural norm than by donning oversized military style boots and shaving one's head. Less than thirty years after the liberation of Aushwitz, and old wounds still open or infected with guilt, as a 'look' it was deliberately confrontational. Peace and Love was very obviously not on the agenda.

This was football; fighting; dancing; and fucking. In that order.

Encouraged by its success, Trojan re-released the 45, and subsequently released a full album by Symarip in 1970.


You may have noticed that the images illustrating this post appeared in a very recent piece including an audio link. Yet again, the threat of DMCA action has prompted another Blogger Takedown. Having found a wealth of written material on this very subject which bears little resemblence to the actuality of that first wave of skinheads so far as I recall, I made the decision to expand on that original post rather than simply republish it as a token of defiance. Unfortunately, you will have to forgo any relevant accompaniment.

PURCHASE SKINHEAD MOONSTOMP: TROJAN 1970 REISSUE

anatomy of a sketch

detail from "anatomy of the neck".
from the sketchbooks of leonardo da vinci.

Very often, the working sketch delivers more of interest than the finished article; certainly, it reveals more on the mechanics of the creative process and the thinking from concept to final delivery. It is the same in music. In many cases, the very polish of post-production may detract from the rudimentary vitality of the demo or live performance. The definitive 'end product' may disappoint precisely because it tries too hard.

The choice of producer is often key; as is the faith an artist places on his own editorial capability. Phil Spector is an obvious candidate in support of this argument. Lennon vetoed the democratic process and ran off with the master tapes for the album which was to be released as "Let it Be". His trust in Spector was implicit and impulsive in equal measure, in spite or because of the artistic integrity allowed George Martin for the better part of a decade. Moreover, it was Lennon's intent to close McCartney down and usurp the authority of partnership.

Similarly, Leonard Cohen made the decision to "collaborate" with Spector on "Death of a Ladies Man" and repented at his leisure as he witnessed the legendary Sam Peckinpah of the recording studio hijack his project entirely.

Of course, the demand for more insight on the part of the 'consumer' presents a rich seam to be mined retrospectively by the Recording Industry; the opportunity to generate still more profit without investing in the standard - and escalating - costs of delivering 'product' from scratch.

Beatles fans deliberated privately for years as to how "Let It Be" might have sounded had Spector been denied the keys to an armoury volatile enough bring about a military coup. They had to wait 33 years - 23 years after Lennon's assassination - until "Let It Be... Naked" was ultimately repackaged with Martin reinstated behind the desk.

The end result, so far as I am concerned, is far from conclusive. Undoubtably, I can do without those saccharine strings Spector imposed on "The Long and Winding Road"; but then again, I always f@cking hated that song anyway. But what about "Get Back" ? Arguably the best song on the 1970 LP, and the album's original working title. Come on. Without Spector's hamfisted touch, what was once a blistering finale soon pales into the dental x-ray of an elderly daschund with no appreciable bite.

And that alone leaves those reheated leftovers hard to swallow.

Ultimately - as is often the case - I tend to side with John's original gut reaction. Phil is definitely a dangerous idiot - with all the subtelty of a .357 magnum loaded on coke and one too many martinis - but man, does he pack some punch.

And then again, I could wax on about this song's origins; but like somebody once said... let sleeping dogs lie.

▼ THE BEATLES: GET BACK from "Let It Be" LP (Apple) 1970 (UK)

▼ THE BEATLES: GET BACK from "Let It Be... Naked" LP/CD (Apple) 1969/2003 (UK)

PURCHASE PHIL SPECTOR'S LET IT BE
PURCHASE LET IT BE... NAKED (2003)

paradise lost

engraving by lodovico cardi cigoli, 1559-1613.

Beelzebub stands immobilized in ice, tethered to the centre of the earth.

Possibly, his birth sign is Taurus. If you looked up at the stars once upon a time, you just might have seen him tumbling past Hyades.

Be•el•ze•bub |bɪˌɛlzɪbʌb|
a name for the Devil.

ORIGIN from late Latin Beëlzebub, translating Hebrew ba‛al zĕ b ū b ‘lord of flies,’ the name of a Philistine god (2 Kings 1:2), and Greek Beelzeboul ‘the Devil’ (Matt. 12:24).

Formed in Cardiff, Wales, 1966 and their first release for the label most famous for deploying tin soldiers in Itchycoo Park.

"Originally written by Lucio Battisti for Patty Pravo as "Il Paradiso" it was translated into English by Jack Fishman and was recorded by the group Amen Corner as their debut single for their new record label Immediate Records and produced by Shel Talmy."

Bubblegum with just a hint of fish n' chips.

Andy Fairweather-Low: vocals; Neil Jones: guitar; Allan Jones: saxaphone;
Mike Smith: tenor saxophone; Michael John "Blue" Weaver: keyboards;
Clive Taylor: bass; Dennis Byron: drums

▼ AMEN CORNER: (IF PARADISE) IS HALF AS NICE from "(If Paradise) Is Half As Nice b/w Hey Hey Girl" 45 (Immediate) 1969 (UK)

charlie don't surf

Capitol 2530.

Blank Stares and Cricket Claps put together a post in December last celebrating the sometimes overlooked vocal talent of - genuine surfing - Beach Boy, Dennis Wilson. Dennis, of course, got in some bad out of family company with one Charles Manson, and that post featured "Never Learn Not To Love" from 1969's "20/20", allegedly co-written with Spahn Ranch's most wanted.

Charlie don't surf, but Dennis does.

On June 19th, 1969 Capitol released "Break Away", a joint Brian Wilson and Reggie Dunbar composition, as a summer 45. In the previous month of that same year, Terry Melcher visited Spahn Ranch to "audition" Manson with Family female members lending support. By June, Charlie had began his babbling with regard to "Helter Skelter" in earnest, and by the time Bobby Beausoleil was dispatched with Mary Brunnner and Susan "Sexy Sadie" Atkins (aka Sadie Mae Glutz)† to extort neighbour, Gary Hinman in the run up to the Tate murders, this song would have been all over the radio. The encounter with Hinman in his Topanga Canyon residence ended with Beausoleil stabbing him to death after holding him hostage for a couple of days. One of his female accomplices daubed a Black Panther paw print on the walls in Hinman's spilled blood, and smeared the words "Political Piggy". Breaking away was never a realistic option with Charlie on the prowl.

Helter Skelter. Coming down fast.

Produced by Brian and his ogre of a father, Murray Wilson, this has always been one of my favourite Beach Boys singles. "20/20" was to be the last album release for the Capitol label. The effects of Wilson Sr.'s bullying were to linger well into the next decade and beyond, much like those correctional facility childhood ghosts which continue, doubtless, to fester and feed Manson's institutional madness.

† Thanks to Nathan Ø for noticing my 'squeaky 'gaff. Incidentally, that mugshot of Manson reminds me of a colour R. Crumb strip I have secreted somewhere which alludes to the origins of Mr. Natural as ex-con, pimp and petty gumball machine thief. Comic book art in imitation of something darker. And still f@ckin' funny.

▼ THE BEACH BOYS: BREAK AWAY from "Break Away b/w Celebrate The News" 45 (Capitol) 1969 (US)

PURCHASE FRIENDS + 20/20 REMASTERED + BONUS TRACKS