HARMONY IN MY HEAD

BROADCAST #39
AIR DATE: 09-26-06

The beginning of this show could be called “A Good Day At The Record Store.” I found some great stuff and that’s what we started the show off with because I’m so excited about hearing all the new sounds. I have been working on future shows, taking time to make them as good as I can. The Aquarium, Channels, Soccer Team all have new releases on Dischord as well as Joe Lally’s album and The Evens in November, we’ll check out all of those. I have some really cool music lined up for next week as well so please tune in if you can. Thanks for listening and stay Fanatic! --Henry
     For you Europeans, Australians and New Zealand Fanatics, there is a re-broadcast time of Friday mornings, 0200 – 0400 hrs. West coast time so you all can check out the show and not have to set your alarms to too rude an hour.

Revolutionary Corps of Teenage Jesus – Righteous Lite: >From the album of the same name. Remember a few weeks ago on Broadcast #29, we played a track from this band called American? I got that off a sampler from the Creeping Bent label. I didn’t know it was off a full album. I was at the record store the other day and came upon the Righteous Lite CD. Now, this band is an odd pairing. It’s Alan Vega, The Man and Stephen Lironi, who used to be in Altered Images and who now is a serious producer. I guess he likes Alan Vega. Anyway, they have made a really cool album that at times, sounds more like Suicide than the last Suicide album. I have heard a couple of the tracks before but not the entire album and I have only played one time through but I am liking it already and wanted to bring it right to the show. I think Alan has found a solid work partner. They have done another record that is only on import at this time called Brooklyn Nightmare. I just ordered a copy. I have no idea what I’m in for but I can’t wait.

Supersystem – Eagles Fleeing Eyries: From the new A Million Microphones album. As many of you Fanatics know, this band used to call themselves El Guapo (The Handsome One.) They were on Dischord for two great records, the 2nd one, Fake French, being one of my favorite records of the year. They changed their name to Supersystem, which was the name of one of their albums and left Dischord and signed to Touch & Go, basically going from one good place to another. Their first album for T&G, Always Never Again didn’t reach out and grab me at first. Not that I didn’t like it, but they had changed their sound somewhat so I had to really listen to them all over again. I ended up really liking the record and then I saw them live in DC at the Black Cat and they just ruled. So, when I saw this one at the record store, I was very excited. I like this album better than the last one. Supersystem continues to amaze me. Some ridiculous playing and arrangements on this one. They have this thing they do with vocals that I find very interesting. It’s almost a chant or a mantra they get going with really great melody, meanwhile the music is just all over the place in a very unique way. They are a very interesting and eclectic band of very talented young men. They are one of those bands I always look out for because I know they are really going for the next thing very hard. I like that in a band, that desire to take it to the next place. There’s far too little of that in music these days. Oh look, they’re on tour: http://www.supersystemband.com/

Tom Verlaine – From Her Fingers: I am very lucky to have my Sonic Jihad Brother, Engineer X in the Indie 103 Rok Mosk because he turns me onto some great music I would never have found on my own. Months ago, he told me about the new Tom Verlaine records that had just come out and recommended them to me. You Fanatics know Verlaine from his Television days and his solo stuff. I have not heard a new Verlaine thing since that album Warm And Cool on Ryko a long time ago. I don’t know why I forgot to check out his new stuff when X gave it the nod, but I did. Anyway, I was at the record store the other day and the light bulb went on and beelined to the Verlaine section and picked up Songs And Other Things. It’s so great to hear new Verlaine. It’s a very relaxed album, not lazy in any way, just a record done by someone who knows what they’re doing. His guitar playing is great. I picked this track for tonight because I really like what he’s doing guitar wise, it’s almost a Television Adventure era thing. I also checked out his instrumental album Around and I’m liking it a lot but have only played once so I’ll get a few more listens and pick a track out for the show.

Frank Zappa – WPLJ: From the Burnt Weeny Sandwich album. Tom Troccoli, fearless Black Flag crewman and leader of Tom’s Dog, turned me onto this album. I had the vinyl a long time ago and I don’t know what happened but I don’t have it any more. I was really wanting to hear WPLJ (White Port & Lemon Juice) and Little House I Used To Live In, just to hear that Sugarcane Harris solo again after so many years. I don’t know much about Zappa. I had Apostrophe and Bongo Fury when I was young and liked them a lot and someone once gave me a copy of LÄTHER and I dug that. I remember at one point while on tour in the early 90’s, our guitar player had Hot Rats and I think Over-nite Sensation with him and I liked those, couldn’t get to Jazz From Hell though. I heard Freak Out many years ago and songs here and there. Anyway, this track is nowhere near the ambition level of most Zappa I’ve ever heard but I always liked this song. There’s another song of his called Charva because the lyric and delivery are really hilarious. It’s too band he passed away so young. It be great to have his intellect around for what’s happening these days.

Henny Youngman – Take My Wife, Please: From the album of the same name. What, it’s Henny Youngman, what’s there not to like?! I love this crowd!

Dinosaur Jr. – I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better: A pretty cool Dinosaur Jr. find. There’s a Byrds tribute record called Time Between and Dinosaur Jr. contributed a track. I didn’t know about this record and came across it while trying to find Dino facts one day. I located a copy in Japan. It’s pretty good but not great but still worth checking out if you’re a Dinosaur Jr. fan.

Can – Deadlock: From the Soundtracks album. Since I was at the record store, I figured I would check out another Can album. I know nothing about this album or the band at this point but I like this record so far. I’m going to listen to it more this week and get more into it.

The Fall – Two Librans (demo): A rare one as far as The Fall goes. This was a one-sided single that never hit the shops. The Fall Fanatic got a copy by ordering Fall CDs from Cog Sinister. The run was only 500 so it’s pretty rare and so far, it’s not shown up as an extra track on a CD. With The Fall, you never know what’s going to happen next so for now, this is hard to find and perfect for our show. You may have heard, The Fall are blessed with some very hard working supporters who have a great website devoted to every move the band makes. Would you like the address for the Unofficial Fall Website? Well ok: http://www.visi.com/fall/

Jah Thomas, Roots Radics - King Tubby's Gold Dub: This is taken from the Dub Massive Chapter 2 CD. Basically, it’s old Trojan Dub tracks remixed by Bill Laswell. I first heard this CD in Ian’s car several months ago. Both chapters 1 and 2 are great but Chapter 2 is my favorite. Laswell really trips out some of these mixes and they sound really heavy. I think when a lot of Dub tracks were mixed, they didn’t have the advantage of some of the gear that’s available now and there’s probably a lot of re-mixing that could be done to hundreds of tracks that would make them sound amazing. Laswell has done so much stuff, it’s almost impossible to get a whole discography in one place. I have tried on numerous occasions, as I have tried to find more of those CDs he was making years ago, that series his short-lived Subharmonic and Strata labels like Azonic Halo, Automaton’s Dub Terror Exhaust and Jihad – Points Of Order and Death Cube K’s Dreamatorium, I found myself lost in the world of Laswell. There’s a ton of it. The Dub Massive series merits a listen.

Metal Boys – He’s Shaken Up: From the Tokio Airport album. After the break up of France’s abrasive electro-punk band Metal Urbain, a few of the members formed Metal Boys and I believe singer Eric Debris went onto form Doctor Mix And The Remix. Of the two post Urbain efforts, I prefer the good Doctor but Metal Boys is certainly not to be ignored. The record is an early Post Punk record and simultaneously suffers and benefits from an almost jaded naiveté, if that’s at all possible. Too hip and almost anonymous vocalist China puts lyrics over primitive DIY electro-ness. Some songs are better than others but definitely worth checking out and really great that the brave Acute label has released this on CD.

The Maniacs - You Don’t Break My Heart: Two ways to get this song as far as I know: you can check it out the way I did many years ago on the Live At The Vortex album and also on the So Far So Loud album, which has their singles and other tracks. Both are in print. Song to song, the Vortex record is one of my favorites while the Maniacs is more of what you heard tonight, solid if slightly above average Punk Rock that leans more towards rock than punk. Let’s talk about the Live At The Vortex album for a moment. This is one of the many Punk Rock compilation albums that came out when everyone was selling everything that could be loosely considered Punk Rock. Some of the records were good, some were not as. Some of the standouts were the two Roxy Club live compilations and the Vortex album. The Vortex was a Punk club in London that featured a lot of great bands of the day. In the summer of 1979 when my stereo system was one of those single speaker cassette players sitting on the passenger seat of my 1969 VW Fastback, one of my most played tapes had the Vortex album on one side and DEVO’s Duty Now For The Future album on the other side.

Dorothy Masuka - Zoo Lake: We’re playing another track from the very wonderful London Is The Place For Me series. Tonight’s track comes from vol. 4, which seems to be all there is of this series so far. This series documents African and Trinidadian musics recorded in London in the 50’s. Ms. Masuka, says the liner notes played much but only recorded two tracks, both included on this set. The title of the song is in reference to a lake at the Johannesburg Zoo. To get all the great records in the world, you would have to win the lottery. I will now say something very un-pc: I love CDRs and copying CDs. If someone were to tell me they went to their friend’s house with a stack of blank CDs and copied all my talking records because he really wanted to check them out but didn’t have the money, I wouldn’t have a problem with that. I get bugged when people record a show of a band and then sell copies for high prices on EBay over and over. I think if you’re young, broke and hungry for new music, you should get the music by any means possible. I am sure Lars from Metallica would get a little steamed about that but what the hell?! http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=22695

Miles Davis – Assassinat de Carala: This is from a CD on Fontana, a soundtrack for a film called Ascenseur Pour L'echafaud (Lift To The Scaffold) The liner notes from the CD tell a great story about the making of the soundtrack. Marcel Romano had booked Miles for a short European tour and at its conclusion, wanted to do a short film using Miles. When that fell through, one of the crew suggested that they talk to the young director Louis Malle about doing the soundtrack. A meeting was set up, Miles saw the film, dug it and while watching the film, basically played to it. The result is a unique and beautiful slice of Miles Davis. The CD includes every bit of the sessions so you get all the outtakes. This one’s worth it. Now, Fanatic, to complete the mission, you must also see the film, which is a Criterion Edition and goes under the name Elevator To The Gallows. I love this film. It makes me think that the French language was invented for actors. It’s a Noir thriller with all the right ingredients: love, murder and Paris at night. Miles’ music fits in perfectly. Also, on a side note, Marcel Romano actually instigated some other Jazz-as-soundtrack events. Romano supervised the soundtrack session for the film Des Femmes Disparaissent, recorded in Paris in late 1959. There are some serious players here: Art Blakey on drums, Jimmy Merrit on bass and Lee Morgan on trumpet, Benny Golson on sax and Bobby Timmons on piano. Also, he supervised the soundtrack recording sessions for Les Liaisons Dangereuses. This session was recorded in NYC in 1959 with Blakey, Morgan, Merrit, Timmons and Duke Jordan show up for piano on different tracks and Barney Wilen the French sax player who was also on the Ascenseur Pour L'echafaud sessions. Another session in 1959 Romano supervised was a soundtrack for Un Temoin Dans La Ville that features Kenny Dorham on trumpet, Wilen on sax and Kenny Clarke on drums among others. Un Temoin is the only soundtrack you might have difficulty finding. It’s strange when CDs are hard to find. It’s like not being able to find a Starbucks. It’s on Fontana like the rest of them but for some reason it’s out of print and commands a high price. I will get something from that CD on the show soon.

Pseudo Existors - Coming Up for Air / Pseudo Existence / Now / Modern Warfare: Our EP of the week is the Stamp Out Normality EP by the Pseudo Existors. The first time I heard the band was on the East LP, which is the Dead Good Records sampler. They were the stand out band on the album to me. I never found anything else of theirs and a few years ago on EBay, I saw this record and luckily won it. After that, I found an LP with the EP, the cuts from East and some other stuff and was about to make a CDR of it when, in an e-mail exchange with John Esplen of Overground Records, he told me he was about to release the Pseudo Existors stuff and that the LP I had was a bootleg and the songs were all at the wrong speed. A couple of weeks later, the CD showed up and I was a very happy man. John puts out the coolest stuff. He’s the one putting out The Cravats 2CD set, he also put out The Shapes and The Door And The Window CDs. He’s got a got a lot of guts! The Pseudo’s EP is one of the best examples of the strength of Post Punk music. Please check out this CD. Here’s John’s site for Overground: http://www.overgroundrecords.com/ and here’s a site with a Pseudo Existors interview and information: http://www.trakmarx.com/2005_05/10_pseudo_existors.htm

Fred McDowell – Dark Clouds A-Rising: Also known as Mississippi Fred McDowell. By the amount of times I have played this guy, you would think that his records are some of the only Blues records I won. I do have every Fred record I have ever seen and I have never heard one I didn’t like. I forget what year it was but I was in a van on tour and we were in Mississippi, driving towards Memphis TN and I saw a sign for Como MS. I was happy to have driven near where Fred lived for many years. He was born in Tennessee but eventually settled in Como. Fred was a serious slide guitar player. He wrote a song called You Gotta Move which The Rolling Stones covered on Sticky Fingers. On the 1986 Black Flag tour, Joe Cole had all my Fred records on tape and we played him almost nightly in the truck as we drove. Fred was one of our most played artists on that tour as far as road tunes went. Tonight’s track is from the Levee Camp Blues album, cut in 1968. He cut some songs with his wife Annie Mae, who apparently was happy to sing in the kitchen, with one hand on the fridge. There’s a track they did together called Get Right Church that I will bring in soon. It’s one of my favorite tracks of his. Like I said, there’s no Fred that’s not good. That being said, the customer should beware because this dead Bluesman’s catalog has been packaged and re-packaged and sometimes the quality isn’t what it should be. Not Fred’s fault. If you like real country blues or just like what you heard tonight, here’s a few Fred McDowell titles that are legit, in print and fantastic:
     Levee Camp Blues – Testament
     The First Recordings – Rounder
     Mama Says I’m Crazy (w/ Johnny Woods on harmonica) – Fat Possum
     I Do Not Play No Rock And Roll – Fuel (14 song version)
     I Do Not Play No Rock And Roll – Capitol (2CD 20 song version)
Also, any of the Fred records on Arhoolie are great. Arhoolie is one of those labels you can count on. Remember when we talked about label identity / integrity? Arhoolie is a label that puts out great stuff so if you see something on the label and it looks interesting, chances are, it’s going to be great. I have bought blindly with Arhoolie and have been rewarded. There’s two CDs of Fred’s that I really like that are either out of print or otherwise unavailable. One is Amazing Grace: Mississippi Delta Spirituals By The Hunter’s Chapel Singers Of Como Miss. – Testament the other, and it’s my favorite Fred record of them all is called Fred McDowell and it’s on Flyright. This is the CD I played that cool version of Shake ‘em On Down earlier this year. I looked around but can’t find it.

Coleman Hawkins & The Ramblers – I Only Have Eyes For You: Don’t get mad. I know that for the Hawk’s debut on our show, we should have played Body & Soul or something that profiles his tremendous talent as a giant of sax but I really wanted to get this version of this song out to you. It’s one of my favorite lyrics of all time and until I got this Coleman box set many years ago I didn’t know that someone had recorded it before The Flamingos. Mr. Hawkins did it all from big band to small group settings. A true innovator of the saxophone. I have quite a few of his records but don’t play them all that often because as great as the solos are, the overall is a little too straight-ahead for me most of the time.

Lee Morgan – Melancholee: Mr. Morgan, well known trumpet player is in good company on this album, Search For New Land. Grant Green – gtr., Wayne Shorter tenor, Herbie Hancock – piano, Reggie Workman – bass and Billy Higgins – drums. That’s some serious talent in one room. With a lot of the Blue Note catalog, it’s a small group of players, who all seemed to live in the studio and just play nonstop. This line-up could have been a Wayne Shorter or Herbie Hancock record, too. Blue Note was kind of like Motown in the way they churned it out. Not saying it wasn’t great stuff, it was but there’s a lot of it and sometimes there’s a same-ness about it. Also, the label has been putting out a lot of records by some of these artists that might have been better left in the vault. I went to some sites where people were talking about this happening with some recent Blue Note releases. This one is a great one.

The Pyramids – Hot Dog Dooly Wah: From Memories of Times Square Record Shop, Vol. 1. There used to be a record store at Times Square in NYC run by Irving Rose. He did a lot of limited editions of Doo Wop and R&B singles and catered to collectors. He did limited colored editions of singles he licensed from other labels and for awhile had a good deal of success. The Memories set is 11 CDs and it’s all pretty damn cool. There’s a great essay written by Don Filieti about the Rose. Fileti’s name is on about a third of the Doo Wop CDs I have. I’ve been geeked on Doo Wop music ever since I first heard it. The series is cheap and easy to find on Amazon.com. Check out the essay, it’s a quick read and really interesting. His store reminds me of Skip Groff’s legendary Yesterday & Today Records in Rockville MD. http://lulusko.www7.50megs.com/TIMESSQUARE/tsrindex.htm