post-haste | with immediate effect

illustration ™ NIBE AIR.
 
one more time. for the hard of hearing.
 
▼ PINK FAIRIES: DO IT from "Never Never Land" LP (Polydor) 1971 (UK)

cisco pike revisited [one night only]

previous to blade, there beat some monumental pulse.

Written and performed by Kris Kristofferson.

David Briggs: keyboards;
Chris Gantry, Jerry Shook: guitar;
Norman Putman: bass;
Jerry Carrigan: drums;
Donnie Fritts: piano, vocals.

Engineered by Gene Eichelberger, Mort Thomasson,
and Tommy Strong. Produced by Fred Foster.

▼ KRIS KRISTOFFERSON: THE PILGRIM (CHAPTER 33) from "The Silver Tongued Devil And I" LP (Monument) 1971 (US)

mutilated by self obscuring clouds

Prior to the limited 2 x 45 Ralph released "Santa Dog" in 1972, agitators The Residents were prompted to furnish their own private recording studio, utilizing consumer marketed 4 track technology as it emerged. Allegedly, their collective nom de guerre was arrived at inadvertently when Warner Bros. rejected those first tentative demos; returning the tape c/o "residents" to their San Mateo address. The seed of the theory of obscurity was sewn.

"According to mythology, The Residents hail from Louisiana’s largest northern city, Shreveport. However, information so clearly handed out is almost certainly inaccurate, knowing how they create myths within myths...

Their musical history actually does start somewhere: San Mateo, found some twenty miles south of San Francisco. The myth claims they ran out of gas on the way to San Francisco and took it as a sign to settle there. Further, the myth says that they never put more gas into the car and it was eventually towed away..."

- Uncle Willie.
A number of the those demos from the abandoned "Baby Sex" project would later surface on various Ralph materials. More interesting than the puerile, or just plain nasty, working title is concrete evidence of their nascent collaboration with English guitarist, Philip 'Snakefinger' Lithman - as testified by "We Stole This Riff"✝ and their cover of Frank Zappa's "King Kong" - who had only just arrived then on the underground scene in San Francisco.

For their part, The Residents have long resisted attempts to classify their output.

As zealously, perhaps, as they have striven over three decades to preserve their anonymity. Publicly courted by the Music Press in the late seventies, the column inches waned as it began to register that The Residents were not content to simply plough the furrow as purveyors of a predetermined cryptic prank.

Where the "Duck Stab / Buster and Glen" EPs were decipherable and concise and "The Third Reich N' Roll" retrospectively celebrated as the product of Dadaist irony, 1980's "The Commercial Album" was almost universally censured as just so much more of the same. The sniffing was virtually audible.

The Residents remained conspicuous in absentia. Persistently declining to step forth and drop the act - to play ball and deliver an 'exclusive' - their timing was deemed flawed.

The joke had worn thin.

Who are The Residents ? And what price their awful heads ?

✝ From Tim Buckley's "Down By the Borderline".

▼ THE RESIDENTS: HOLELOTTADICK from "**** Sex" Demo (Unreleased) 1971 (US)
▼ THE RESIDENTS: SOMETHING DEVILISH from "**** Sex" Demo (Unreleased) 1971 (US)
▼ THE RESIDENTS: WE STOLE THIS RIFF from "**** Sex" Demo (Unreleased) 1971 (US)

melody du papa doc

No. Nothing to do with recent events in Haiti; merely an - albeit clumsy - excuse to post yet another mildly salacious photograph of Jane B with musical accompaniment from occasional 'regular', Serge. 

Watching the newsreel footage of naked panic and - understandably unfocused - rage, it does occur to me that we've been here before. At a controlled distance.

Arranged and conducted by Jean-Claude Vannier.

▼ SERGE GAINSBOURG: MELODY (EXTRAIT DE MELODY NELSON) from "Histoire De Melody Nelson" LP (Philips) 1971 (France)

brain negatives / black holes collide

Klaus Dinger: japanese banjo, drums, guitar, voice;
 Michael Rother: guitar, deh-guitar, bass, double bass.

Recorded over 4 nights in December 1971; Windrose-Dumont-Time-Studios, Hamburg.
Engineered by Conny Plank.


▼
see below.

▼ NEU!: NEGATIVLAND from "Neu!" LP (Brain Metronome) 1972 (Germany)

just do it

A re-up, to those in the loop, from July last year.

"...If The Stooges and MC5 were progenitors of punk in the U.S., then Pink Fairies were sperm donors who refused to fuck about."

illustration ™ NibE AIR.

▼ PINK FAIRIES: DO IT from "NeverNeverLand" LP (Polydor) 1971 (UK)

latha bealltainn: your mouth is a ghost

illustration by ib.

Beltane:

1st - 2nd May Northern Hemisphere
31st Oct - 1st Nov Southern Hemisphere

Bel•tane |ˌbɛlteɪn|
noun
an ancient Celtic festival celebrated on May Day.

ORIGIN late Middle English : from Scottish Gaelic bealltainn.

▼ T. REX: THERE WAS A TIME from "Get It On b/w There Was A Time / Raw Ramp" 45 (Fly) 1971 (UK)

▼ T. REX: RAW RAMP from "Get It On b/w There Was A Time / Raw Ramp" 45 (Fly) 1971 (UK)

PURCHASE ELECTRIC WARRIOR REMASTERED + BONUS TRACKS

chanson d'o

Accompanied by Tuca on guitar.

Written by Tuca and F. Gerald; arranged by Tuca and Françoise Hardy.

▼ FRANÇOISE HARDY: CHANSON D'O from "La Question" LP (Sonopresse) 1971 (France)

what do you want on the wall of death ?

round and round. king of the jungle in a sidecar.

A little heavy on the saxophone - in the long run - perhaps, but why quibble ?

From the soundtrack to Jérôme Laperroussaz's esotric cinematic ode to European bike racing and the crashing independent. Recorded in the spring of 1971, like "Pink Floyd, live at Pompeii" without Pink Floyd. Or a volcano.

Reissued fairly recently on CD, but once again out of print.

Christian Tritsch: bass;
Pip Pyle: drums;
Didier Malherbe: saxophone, flute;
Gilli Smyth: space whisper;
Daevid Allen: guitar, vocals.

▼ GONG: WHAT DO YOU WANT ? from "Continental Circus (Original Soundtrack)" LP (Philips) 1971 (France)

curse of the mole people

virgil vogel's "the mole people", 1956.

Arranged by John Pate and Riley Hampton. Engineered by Roger Anfinsen.

Written and produced by Curtis Mayfield; one year before his 30th birthday.

Trivia for pigeon fanciers and trainspotters:

The Underground (subway) in Glasgow - originally opened to the public in 1897 - is widely referred to as 'The Clockwork Orange', owing in part to the one-time corporate colour of Greater Glasgow Passenger Transport Executive. Confusingly, the paint used to decorate the carriages was officially coined 'Strathclyde PTE Red' as a result of political sensitivity - after the fact - to the city's major sectarian divisions. The third oldest subway system of its kind in the world, it operates on only two lines of track, an inner and outer circle, each running counter-clockwise and servicing just fifteen stations across the heart of the city.

Worryingly, many of those lesser stations operate on a single platform. It is all too easy to imagine oneself toppling - or being shoved - on to a live rail or, worse, directly in front of an oncoming train. It is not remotely a child friendly mode of transport, or one to be countenanced by the squeamish.

Parents cling to their offspring, chalky faces paralyzed with anxiety.

When I was a mere kid myself, the passenger seating consisted of bare wooden planking, and those narrow platforms were only dimly lit by naked sixty watt bulbs strung sparingly overhead on cables as substantial as rat chewed threads of skirting board insulation. The carriages were claustrophobic and unsanitary. A smell of piss and beer. One huddled into a corner and held one's breath. Avoided eye contact with the obviously inebriated and simply sat it out; rattling along through black tunnels rank with underground pockets of natural gas. Good times.

Another child farther along forced to give up his seat for an elderly weasel in an overcoat while a fat man sleeps it off splayed out on the bench with one unlaced shoe dangling.

The Tokyo Tube may pack them in like sardines - inert and upright, and red eyes streaming from the Sarin - but at least its trains are spotless.

▼ CURTIS MAYFIELD: UNDERGROUND from "Roots" LP (Curtom) 1971 (US)

PURCHASE ROOTS REMASTERED ON RHINO

teddybears and polydactyls

Polydactyly:

a six finger guitar thing.
theodore roosevelt "hound dog" taylor: april 12th, 1915 - december 17th, 1975.

pol•y•dac•ty•ly |ˈpɒlɪˌdaktɪli|
noun
a condition in which a person or animal has more than five fingers or toes on one, or on each, hand or foot.
DERIVATIVES
pol•y•dac•tyl adjective & noun

ORIGIN late 19th cent.: from Greek poludaktulos (from polu- ‘many’ + daktulos ‘finger’ ) + -y 3 .

Much thanks to Roy Belmont for switching me on to this in the first place.

From Wiki:

"As well as being Taylor's debut album, Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers was the first release on the Alligator label. The label was founded by Bruce Iglauer for the specific purpose of releasing an album of Taylor's music after he had been unable to persuade Bob Koester, then his boss at Delmark, to record Taylor."

Theodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor: vocals; slide guitar;
Brewer Phillips: guitar; Ted Harvey: drums.

▼ HOUND DOG TAYLOR & THE HOUSEROCKERS: GIVE ME BACK MY WIG from "Hound Dog Taylor And The Houserockers" LP (Alligator) 1971 (US)

PURCHASE HOUND DOG TAYLOR @ ALLIGATOR RECORDS
KENO'S HOUND DOG TAYLOR WEB SITE

...and a happy new year!

illustration by ib.

happy new year.

And a special thank you from my son to Nathan Ø for a very appreciated Christmas gift. The route from California through Little Britain is more arduous and frought with peril than one might reasonably expect.

To kick off the new year in fine style - a tad later than I'd intended - here's a monstrous unseasonal freak out from Dashiell Hedayat; with musical accompaniment from Daevid Allen, Pip Pyle, Christian Tritsch, Didier Malherbe and Gilli Smyth. Recorded at Strawberry Studio on may, 1971.

Bang a gong.

▼ DASHIELL HEDAYAT: CIELO DRIVE/17 from "Obsolete" LP (Shandar) 1971

PURCHASE OBSOLETE

eh, mushroom, will you mush my room?

SR 10009.

From what is sometimes referred to as the "Lost Gong Album", featuring as it does full support from Daevid Allen and musical entourage. This is perhaps the most conventional arrangement on the LP, ending side 1 with a vocal contribution from William S. Burroughs, immediately preceding the psychedelic freak out which sprawls across the entirety of side 2; "Cielo Drive/17".

Dashiell Hedayat: vocal, guitar, keyboards; Daevid Allen: lead guitar; Didier Malherbe: sax, flute; Christian Tritsch: bass, acoustic guitar; Pip Pyle: drums, guitar; Gilli Smyth: vocal; with Robert Wyatt, voice; William S. Burroughs, voice.

Recorded at Strawberry Studio on May 1971.

"Warning: This record must be played as loud as possible, must be heard as stoned as impossible and thank you everybody."

Grab it while it's hot. And steamy.

▼ DASHIELL HEDAYAT: EH, MUSHROOM WILL YOU MUSH MY ROOM (part iii): LONG SONG FOR ZELDA from "Obsolete" LP (Shandar) 1971 (France)

PURCHASE OBSOLETE

a cowboy in sweden

out of bullets, but still firing on all cylinders.

▼ LEE HAZLEWOOD: IF IT'S MONDAY MORNING from "Requiem For An Almost Lady" LP (Viking / Reprise) 1971 (Sweden)

PURCHASE REQUIEM FOR AN ALMOST LADY
REQUIEM ON THE RISING STORM

promised land

photograph by troy paiva.

A magnificent reworking of Chuck Berry's classic by South Louisiana's king of Acadia, Johnnie Allan. Cajun coupling with rock n' roll.

This was a huge hit in the UK on Oval Records, distributed by Virgin, in 1974, as a split single with Shelton Dunaway on the reverse. My friend, Gus, picked it up in a junk shop in Dundee that same year.

Originally recorded for Jin & Swallow Records in Ville Platte, Louisiana, at KLEB Radio Station in Golden Meadow, Louisiana. JIN 244. Accordion by Belton Richard. Produced by Floyd Soileau.

Stiff Records would re-release this one in 1978.

▼ JOHNNIE ALLAN: THE PROMISED LAND from "The Promised Land b/w Somewhere On Skid Row" 45 (Jin & Swallow) 1971 (US)

PURCHASE PROMISED LAND ON ACE RECORDS

can: paper house

photograph by charles gatewood.

Holger Czukay: bass
Michael Karoli: guitar
Jaki Liebezeit: drums
Irmin Schmidt: keyboards
Damo Suzuki: vocals

Written and produced by Can. Engineered by Holger Czukay.

▼ CAN: PAPER HOUSE from "Tago Mago" LP (Spoon / Gema) 1971 (Germany)

PURCHASE TAGO MAGO REMASTERED
PURCHASE CHARLES GATEWOOD: BADLANDS

stormcock

surfing an ill wind. with flagrant disregard for omens.



"The judge sits on his great assize
Twelve men wise with swollen thighs
Who never ever told no lies
Whose minds were ever such a size
Whose lives were ever such a prize
Whose brains bred answers just like flies
Whose answers stalked their thoughts like spies
Whose lead ball through the courtroom flies
To rip a hole clean between two eyes
That never ever wore disguise
And never ever saw blue skies
Who quickly lived now slowly dies
Who closed unopened otherwise."

- Roy Harper.

' The album's title, Stormcock, is an old English name for the Mistle Thrush. The male of this species "...sings its loud melodious song from a tree, rooftop or other elevated perch, often during bad weather or at night" '

Produced by Peter Jenner. Engineered by John Barrett; Peter Bown; John Leckie; Phil McDonald; Alan Parsons; Nick Webb.

▼ ROY HARPER: HORS D'OEUVRES from "Stormcock" LP (Harvest EMI) 1971 (UK)

PURCHASE STORMCOCK
ROY HARPER OFFICIAL WEBSITE

lady jane and the frog prince

jane birkin by serge gainsbourg.

Possibly the most seductive -30 minutes from the maestro of art sleaze. Impeccable.

Conducted and arranged by Jean-Claude Vannier.

▼ SERGE GAINSBOURG: CARGO CULTE from "Histoire De Melody Nelson" LP (Philips) 1971 (France)

PURCHASE HISTOIRE DE MELODY NELSON REMASTERED

"do you live in a town ?"

hutchestontown area c, gorbals. architecture by sir basil spence.



gorbals, circa 1977. photographers unknown. ballater street ?

I don't know. This may possibly be prompted by Beer N. Hockey's babbling on rivers. Or my own post yesterday on Vince Guaraldi and Peanuts. Anyway. I wanted to share some local colour.

Narrated by one-time BBC newsreader, Sir Richard Baker with musical accompaniment by the great Johnny Pearson. From an era when Britain was more proud of its council high rise developments. And new towns.

St. Mungo is the patron saint of Glasgow. Incidentally.

"The bird that never flew.
The tree that never grew.
The bell that never rang.
The fish that never swam."

- Let Glasgow Flourish.

For those visitors outwith the British Isles - or with a vague interest in animism - Mary was a little girl, Mungo her dog, and Midge a pet mouse. They lived in a multi-storey block of flats. Long before I did.

In an undisclosed location not a million miles from London.

▼ JOHNNY PEARSON: MARY, MUNGO & MIDGE (OPENING THEME) from "Mary, Mungo & Midge" BBC TV (BBC) 1971 (UK)

▼ JOHNNY PEARSON: MARY, MUNGO & MIDGE (CLOSING THEME) from "Mary, Mungo & Midge" BBC TV (BBC) 1971 (UK)

green fingers #2: maybe tomorrow

a younger green.



blue note BST - 84373.

Written by A. Bergman; N. Bergman; Q. Jones. Produced by George Butler, engineered by Rudy Van Gelder.

Accompanied by Chuck Rainey: bass; Ray Armando: congas; Idris Muhammad: drums; Harold Cardwell: drums, percussion; Emanuel Riggins: electric piano; Billy Wooten: vibraphone.

From Celebrity Rock Guitars:

"Grant Green was born in St. Louis on June 6, 1931‡, learned his instrument in grade school from his guitar-playing father and was playing professionally by the age of thirteen with a gospel group. He worked gigs in his home town and in East St. Louis, IL, until he moved to New York in 1960 at the suggestion of Lou Donaldson.

Sadly, drug problems interrupted his career in the '60s, and undoubtedly contributed to the illness he suffered in the late '70s. Green was hospitalized in 1978 and died a year later. Despite some rather uneven LPs near the end of his career, the great body of his work represents marvelous soul-jazz, bebop, and blues."

Thanks to My Jazz World for the vinyl rip and for turning me on to this LP in the first instance.

‡ Or 1935, according to other sources.

▼ GRANT GREEN: MAYBE TOMORROW from "Visions" LP (Blue Note) 1971

GRANT GREEN ON AMAZON
GRANT GREEN DISCOGRAPHY