[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9Jpn6u6iOE]
Showing posts with label Blues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blues. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Ed Cole - This Way
During the brief period I was playing in bands (1989-94), I had the pleasure of making music with some really cool characters who just happened to be very creative souls and the finest of musicians. One of the bestest of those characters is a man named Ed Cole. I first knew him has Dead Ed, one of the better DJs up at KHSU, then was fortunate enough to have been a co-conspirator in Garden Weasel for an all to brief of a period of time. In the 25 years I've called him a friend, I don't know if I've met a finer human being, he is truly a Mustard Relic. We've listened to his magic before, doing his part in a band called The Underlings, with their Operational Excellence CD, Edgy CD and Vice Squad 7". All excellent listening material. So today, though the blessing/curse that is Facebook, I found out that Mr. Cole, has this solo project in works. I feel like I should have been informed of this personally by Mr. Cole as I am his greatest fan and always knew he had all kinds of solo stuff up his sleeve, but I'll take what I can get. Not only is he an out of this world musician and incredible song writer, but he knows how to compose masterfully...you can't go wrong putting a mandolin and a cello in your tune. This is well worth a listen/viewing (he did the vid too) and to my understanding is a precursor to a full length...
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Lead Belly - Where Did You Sleep Last Night?
Back in the late 80's, early 90's when I was in college, Nirvana came on the scene, but I never gave them a chance. Everybody was into them, and at the time, that was reason enough for me not to be. I don't think I actually ever listened to them, which is a shitty way not to groove to a band. There were relatively few bands from the so called Grunge scene that I would listen to, The Melvins (arguably not Grunge), Babes In Toyland, Soundgarden and L7 being some prime examples of exceptions. Later (I can't remember if it was after Cobain offed himself or not) a buddy of mine made me a tape of their MTV Unplugged set, and I was kind of blown away (listening to it as I'm typing). It's an intensely heartfelt performance, although they are all light-hearted and joking, musically it's some heavy stuff.. The songs tend to be glum, and I've always been sort of a glum person myself, so they hit a sweet spot...really good listening when you've got girl problems. I have since gone on to appreciate the other Nirvana releases, but this Unplugged thing has a lot of things going for it. Pat Smear! Kurt, introduces him as being a part of the band for the first time. Poor Pat, second band he's been in, where the singer has killed himself. Cello! My favorite of the orchestral instruments (bassoon comes a close second). Who needs a bass player when you've got the haunting bottom end of a cello. The covers! The original Nirvana tunes are over the top, but it tells you a lot about a band, what songs they cover. Vaselines, Bowie, Meat Puppets (they even get the brothers to help play those tunes) and they saved the best for last, Lead Belly. That last tune is just incredible, "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" I think that Lead Belly would have appreciated the Nirvana version...but of course nothing can beat the power and the glory of the original...
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6yCEsDsGx4]
Thursday, October 28, 2010
John Lee Hooker - 4 Vee Jay singles
Trip out on this, or as my very old and close brother Alex, with his almost indistinct Spanish/Mexican accent, used to say, "tripottaniss", my 300th post. In one of my recent comments I pointed out that if you look at my first 10 posts and compare the to my last ten, I humbly submit I've come a long way (not necessarily qualitatively, but what the hell). In the beginning I was doing 4 posts a week and now it's 4 posts a month. There's a lot more deliberate effort that goes into each post now, sort of like the difference between being a raging alcoholic, drinking non-stop only to pass out, and the connoisseur
or maybe, the social drinker who savors each sip. It's been tough sometimes staying focused because as everyone knows life gets in the way of living, but for the most part it's been a blast. There's about 7 guys that are regulars around here and I am so grateful for that (them). I'm not really sure what keeps you guys coming back except that maybe you're just supporting your pal. Even if the words are uninteresting, the music is varied enough to have been at least likable for everyone at one time or another, and if nothing else should shows my love for music in general, in it's many shapes and forms. I used to upload files to external storage sites like Mediafire and Megaupload, so that a person could easily get the chance to do some listening, but as with any site of this kind, there are hoards of those who are just out to add to their hard drive and probably possess very little music outside of the virtual realm. The Deadhorse "Horsecore" LP was the number one post in which interest was shown, with 685 downloads (8 comments, two of which were mine), and the Butthole Surfers "PCP EP" is in a distant second with 171 downloads. I don't know which of the direct links are the most popular, I haven't figured out how to do that yet. Anyway...thanx to everyone who has given me some feedback here, you have made this place that much better.
Remember the early cell phones (dudes thought they were cool when they had one of those)? My cell phone for several months now has been a piece of shit, with a battery that lasts 5 minutes of talking after a full charge (and I'm too cheap to buy a new battery and am just waiting for the free phone you get when you renew your contract). If I wanted to use it for any length of time I had to have it plugged into the charger, stuck standing four feet from a electric socket. Took me back to the days before cordless phones (how did we do it?). Stopping at the pay phone if you needed to get a hold of someone while you were out and about. Amazing how tied to technology I have become. I don't think I'll do well with the apocalypse (where would I get smokes, too), but you know I'll survive because this is NoWhere Kansas.
On a side note, U.S. slips to historic low in global corruption index, go figure in a country where we're conned into gluttony. Beats living in Somalia though.
I know that most of the guys who stop in here aren't too keen on the reggae scene, but just wanted to pass on that my favorite, long time crackhead, often arrested, reggae, lover's rock, vocalist passed away from lung cancer on the 25th of this month. The guy was prolific at releasing records and I think had about as many arrests as he did LPs (not that being arrested is something to aspire to or is cool in any way, but the fact is that you just got caught). I've been to several reggae shows, but for some reason when I think of that genre I think of those white "hippy" girls in Arcata circa 1990, with the waspafarian dread locks, the Little House on the Prairie dress over the corduroy pants and the pathetic puppy with an old piece of rope for a leash. Anyway in memory of Mr. Isaacs, one of his all time hits, and rightly so (play it for the one you love, ha, ha, my wife can't stand reggae).
What's there to say about John Lee Hooker, I suppose other than I thought he would be perfect for my 300th post (don't you just love arbitrary numbers). Did a blues thing with this post about a year ago and gave up a damn good comp if I do say so myself. All those were other people's rips and stuff I wrangled from youtube, so this time 'round you get stuff off my shelf. Some of my favorite stuff out of all the records I have despite the fact that they don't have perty sleeves and are seriously used (you can't miss the Rice Crispy-ness of these things with their snap-crackle-pop). Listening to these tunes as I type, and the first thing that comes to mind is that whatever you have on your mp3 player or hard drive, it will remain completely incomplete if you don't put these tunes on there. Damn, pick yourself up one of these 45's for less than $10 bucks (some of the rarer ones, that are apparently rare for a reason that is beyond me, pressing numbers maybe, go for a boatload). Without this man and others like him, most of the shit I've posted around here wouldn't exist. I've got several more but I thought it would be kinda neat (because I'm that neat-o kinda guy) to do a Vee Jay thing. These were recorded between 1960 and 1965, so the man was already a seasoned veteran of his craft. Not sure where to start with these eight tunes I've got for you, they all stand alone, some hits that you must've heard and then some others maybe not. Tupelo is just him and his guitar along with his foot tapping along to the song, so that might be where to start, but I'm listening to Flowers on the Hour with it's trippy warbled sound (I have two copies of that record and they're both that way), so...
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Mustard relics mix #3 (the blues)
Got this one in the mail. The kind of joke a christian who didn't like some of what science has to say, might send to another like minded person, but it made me grin. I'm around a lot of people who are very literal about their bible and as I mentioned on another site, they don't understand the power of the metaphor. To me it's not worth arguing with them because what I "know" and what they "know" are two different things. These types of thinkers, or should I say believers, tend to hold their faith over the heads of others and wield the Bible like a weapon. Small town life accomodates people with that point of view as they smile to their neighbors and chit chat at the store about the farming, ranching and the weather, while secretly condemning them. It's nice being an outsider who is just an observer and not a part of any particular group. If anything to them I'm defined by the fact that I work with "retards" (they whisper under their breath). For some, the people I work with are contagious and I too may miraculously develop disabilities. You can learn a lot from people who's lives aren't cluttered with the everyday dramas we are surrounded with. Thus ends my scattered rambling wisdom for the day.
A beautifully grisly piece of animation someone sent to me.
http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/xavnkm&related=0
VIDEOGIOCO - loop experiment
Uploaded by milkyeyes1. - Discover more animation and arts videos.
It's odd, I have all these old records I could post, even have some new ones coming in the mail any day now, but I felt like following my last post, although in a completely different direction, and posting a comp of sorts. Another tape for you all. This one is inspired by a tape that a friend of mine, Jeremy, made for me back in college, that I have since lost. I've scoured my boxes of shit with no luck in finding a tape that represented the sum total of my blues music experience at the time I got it. Like discovering a skip in a record, the fact that I can't find it brings me down. All kinds of shit going on in this world and around me, but the loss of a piece of music is what afffects me. Anyway, I remembered most of the tunes that were on that and have aquired them, to present to you now. If you're into this kind of music (how could you not be?) a good starting point would be the On Muddy Sava Riverbank blog. They were a lot of help to me as my physical copies of blues music is almost nil. Bear with me now on the sound quality as some of these tunes were transfered from old 78s and are almost 80 years old. As has become the custom with making these comps, this mix should fit neatly on a standard writable CD. If you're in the right mood, understand music history or just love good music this will be the shit for you. Let me know, i'm curious.
Samples of the many great blues videos out there.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikxLNaAYu5k&w=425&h=344]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77pmWCpMNkI&w=425&h=344]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsMpHHSLSlc&w=425&h=344]
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