A Psychobilly 2 for Tuesday
About 10 years ago, my friends and I would frequent this cool bar in Tempe, AZ, that went by the name of 6 East, or “the Beast”. They had probably the best, most diverse jukebox I’ve ever happened across in a bar.
So I’m in there putting back a couple one night, and I hear this strange sound emanating from the speakers. Loud, aggressive, hip, twangy, just downright strange. I had just been introduced to the Reverend Horton Heat. The song was “I’m Mad”. I marched right out the next day and picked up the CD, “Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em”. And I soon discovered that the Rev is a slave to the road, so I’ve had the chance to see him, Jimbo (standup bass), and their drummer multiple times over the years. If you want a high energy, soul-cleansing psychobilly experience, go see the Rev live.
Here’s a couple from the Rev:
Reverend Horton Heat – I’m MadReverend Horton Heat – Baddest of the Bad(mp3) – from ‘Liquor in the Front’See the Reverend Horton Heat Official Web Site
Buy the Rev’s music on Amazon
Find out the Rev is coming to your townHillbilly Heaven – Blues Stay Away From Me
“Mmmmm-mmmm-mmm-mmm-mmmmm”. You’ll understand after you hear the first 5 seconds of this song. Now, I’ve always liked Dire Straits, but I had no clue, until I heard this song a few years ago, that Mark Knopfler had a little side project called the Notting Hillbillies.
He formed this band after the smashing success of Straits’ ‘Money for Nothing’ album in 1984. He pulled a few fellas together: Brendan Croker, Steve Phillips, and Guy Fletcher, and hit the road in 1986. Their only album, ‘Missing…Presumed Having a Good Time’ wasn’t released until 1990. I was in college at the time immersed in my studies (*cough cough*), so I guess I totally missed it. But I’m glad I finally found it, especially this song, which is a cover of a Delmore Brothers-penned tuned originally done by Les Paul & Mary Ford back in 1952. Since then, a whole laundry list of artists have covered this song, from Jeff Beck to The Band, the Everly Brothers, NRBQ, and Sleepy LaBeef. Damn, I like saying Sleepy LaBeef.So enjoy this gorgeous, lazy & loping, delightfully melancholy song.
And buy the album on Amazon for less than $8.00!
Spazz Folk Coming at Ya
I have to share a song I recently discovered on another blog (can’t remember which one, but one of those links there on the right side). The band is Need New Body. The only explanation of this music that I can muster comes again from All Music.com:
They exist in an as yet unnamed category almost all their own: some sort of spazz-folk created with banjos, eight-bit video game consoles, junkyard percussion, absurd ranting, and campfire chanting.
Yeah, that’s it! This one’s infectious. Anything that gets my daughter all excited and jumping around and waving her arms has gotta be good.
Check out their latest, UFO, on Amazon. With song names like “Gigglebush Meets CompUSA, “Tittie Pop”, and “Pisscat”, it’s no wonder I’m endeared to them.
Calling Elvis, is Anybody Home
I came across this great web site / music magazine called Glide Magazine. They offer free downloads of entire shows. Their latest selection is the mighty Mark Knopfler and his great band live in Hamburg, Germany from 2001.
The opener of the show? “Calling Elvis,” of course. Check the link below to download any or all tracks from the show. Great quality, superb musicianship. This one’s already in my car cd player after discovering it last night.
Mark Knopfler Live in Hamburg 2001
For the King – Are You Lonesome Tonight? (the laughing version)
I’d love to find out more info on this (e.g. where and when)… this is Elvis performing “Are You Lonesome Tonight” and experiencing a fit of uncontrollable laughter for most of the song. Quality stuff.
One for the King
Well before I plop myself in front of the TV this weekend, tune in to AMC, and watch some quality Elvis movies (GI Blues, Paradise Hawaiian Style, Girls! Girls! Girls! to name a few), I have to pay my respects to the King on his 70th birthday. Here’s a great blues tune recorded in 1960 after his return from the Army. ‘Reconsider Baby’ was composed and performed originally by Lowell Fulson in 1954 (that’s the fella pictured below).
Happy Birthday Elvis.
Elvis Presley – Reconsider Baby (mp3)
Check out the album, Elvis is Back.
AMC’s schedule this weekend. Elvis movies all day!Check out Lowell Fulson’s bio on All Music.
Baby, What’s Your Phone Number?
Back in the early 80’s when Prince was building his Minneapolis empire, The Time emerged as his first and ultimately most formidable side/pet project. The Time actually morphed from the popular Minneapolis band Flyte Tyme, of which Prince and Morris Day were members. Most people are familiar with the Time from ‘Purple Rain’. Prior to the movie’s release, the Time released two albums: the self-titled debut, and 1982’s ‘What Time is It’?
The best track off the album, and their best ever, in my most esteemed opinion, is ‘777-9311’: 8 minutes of unadulterated synth and guitar-driven swaggering funk. Produced by ‘The Starr Company’, AKA Jamie Starr AKA Prince, the little purple guy puts his stamp down heavy on this tune.
A Toast – Jerry Jeff Walker’s Sangria Wine
Here’s a fun, gritty, laid back ode to one of my favorite non-beer beverages (right behind the mojito): Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Sangria Wine.” My meticulous research has dated this song back to the early 70’s, when it first appeared on the 1973 album ‘Viva Terlingua.’ I’m gonna have to check out this album, as I read on All Music, it was
“recorded live in Luckenbach, TX, on a hot August night in 1973…among the most legendary of “live” singer/songwriter albums ever released. It’s the ‘Live at the Fillmore East’ of redneck Texas folk-rock.”
Ohhhh Carolina
Well the beauty of music is there’s always something new to hear, regardless of how long the music has been around. I was perusing one of my regular blog spots, The Suburbs are Killing Us, early this morning, and came across the energizing, booty shakin’, get the day/month/year started right type o’ tune: “Oh Carolina” by Shaggy.
Most folks know Shaggy by his huge hit “Boombastic” from 1995, or 2000’s “It Wasn’t Me”. But his 1993 debut album, ‘Pure Pleasure’, yielded “Oh Carolina”, a tune originally done by the Folkes Brothers in 1961. The first few seconds of the track is sampled directly from the original, then yer off on a wild Shaggy ride. Enjoy….
Camping Next To Water with Mr. Badly Drawn Boy
A few years ago I came across a great album from one Badly Drawn Boy. Turns out BDB is comprised of one English bloke named Damon Gough. It was his debut album, Hour of the Bewilderbeest. He’s since put out a few more albums, including the soundtrack to ‘About a Boy’, a really good romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant. But no BDB song has quite captured me like “Camping Next to Water”. It’s a melancholy tune with downright strange lyrics . But it’s the instrumentation that does it for me. The simplicity of the opening drums and guitar, building into the moment at 1:07 where there’s a cool little drum part (I know there’s probably a name for it) and the bass kicks in, and the song goes to another level.