An Irreverent Fanzine.
Est. 1984

Dead Movie Stars

Guitarist Wayne Kramer has made a lot of music since the MC5 and being imprisoned. His first solo effort was a 45 for Jake Riveria's Radar label in 1979, and for that he worked with producer Martin Rushent. His solo albums show a range of musical interests and abilities. When he played in my Tower, this was certainly one of his most power numbers, as it captures his flair for jazz, performance narratives and much more. It was a joy to present him and if you have not been listening to his work over the past 30 years or so, start now!

The Price of Love

After 1962 the Everly Brothers pretty much stopped having big hits in the US. They remained more popular in the UK and in 1965 they reached #2 over there with, to me, one of their greatest records, The Price Of Love. In the UK it has had many interesting covers, as the Status Quo did it in the late 1960s and in the mid 1970s Brian Ferry made a very good version. The song does not seem as popular here, though not that long ago Buddy Miller did it and did it very well. The Everly's version, the big UK hit really must be heard!

The Feminine Look

Mickie Most is mostly known as a producer, and sometimes as a producer who really hacked off his own artists, like Donovan and Terry Reid and the Yardbirds. Still, he was very successful over more than two decades. Early on, though, Most was a singer. He wad a good deal of success in S Africa during the beginning of the 1960s, returning to London in 1962. Most was one of the first producers to use Jimmy Page and Big Jim Sullivan regularly, and this 1963 example, though the lyrics are a bit stereotyped, has much wonderful Page!

Sitting By The Window

The weather here in Chicago has alternated between beautiful and then cold and damp. It has been raining again for hours and promises to rain off and on ALL day. In that spirit, let's hear this Moby Grape which includes the rain among its mise-en-scène to an emotional lament. It really is a moving and beautifully sung record!

Today at the Soul Station, I present the Isley Brothers' Brother, Brother, Brother and 3+3 albums. I think these are two of their very best albums. Brother was the final studio release in their T-Neck deal with Buddah Records, though they had to give the label a double live set, too, which came out in March of 1973, almost one year after Brother. The Brother album isn't the first on which Ernie Isley plays rock influenced lead guitar, but in my estimation, it is the first one in which he is really successful and find his own way, even with many touches obviously borrowed from Hendrix. Overall the album balances the soul, funk and mighty dance grooves, with some searing guitar and perhaps the best vocal version of It's Too Late. Having moved to CBS, they reconfigured That Lady from a 1964, moody, latin inflected, brass driven track, to one featuring Ernie's searing and soaring lead guitar. Big difference, big hit. And while they continued to cover rock and pop tunes well associated with other artists and groups, the versions here of Summer Breeze and Listen To The Music really stand out! So be prepared to groove and connect with the Brothers Isley of 1972-73.

Vido’s Bop

You don't hear much about tenor player Vido Musso. He emerged from the big band era of the 1930s, and by the time he was a main soloist for Stan Kenton it was the mid 1940s and Musso, along with Kai Winding, Pete Rugolo, and others in Kenton's band he began to be attracted to be-bop. Musso flirted with it in early 1946 for Savoy, and with a few of the same cats, cut this boppish track in 1947. It really is more the tune and the arrangement here that is boppish, as for the most part, the fine solos are still mostly in the swing thing. It shows how many aspects of what Gillespie and Parker introduced became made and remade after their most influential recordings of 1945 and 1946. Musso has his own sound and mildly gruff approach and at his best seems reminiscent of Lockjaw Davis, Lucky Thompson and Illinois Jacquet, who were all his contemporaries.

Deep South Suite, Pt. 4 Happy Go Lucky Local

There is no one else like Duke Ellington in jazz history, a musician, band leader and brilliant composer who was and remains,many different things to many different audiences. At least in my view. And in that view, I have always heard an uncompromising, sometimes daring musical approach. This track certainly shows that he was a mighty pianist, capable of playing something like a very hard blues, and doing so with a dissonance that is usually just associated with Monk or Sun Ra. After Duke's piano, the band really roars, for afterall, this is about a train! Eventually this music would be transformed into Night Train. This version comes from a V-Disc and was originally recorded at Carnegie Hall in 1946!

Shake For Me

I discovered the Southern Friedalbum in 1970, sometime after it was released. Most of it hit me right off. I was also drawn to it because Duane Allman is on four of the disc's tracks. I was already familiar with Hammond's Vanguard label albums, since the public library had them. I liked them, but really felt this album was in a different class: it had horns and a much different drum sound. Probably because it was recorded in Alabama. The lead track on side one was also put out on a 45 at the end of 1969, before the album was issued, and though it didn't light up the charts, it is easy to tell why it was chosen: Allman adds a lot when his slide enters during the second verse.

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Dead Movie Stars

Guitarist Wayne Kramer has made a lot of music since the MC5 and being imprisoned. His first solo effort was a 45 for Jake Riveria's Radar label in 1979, and for that he worked with producer Martin Rushent. His solo albums show a range of musical interests and abilities. When he played in my Tower, this was certainly one of his most power numbers, as it captures his flair for jazz, performance narratives and much more. It was a joy to present him and if you have not been listening to his work over the past 30 years or so, start now!

The Price of Love

After 1962 the Everly Brothers pretty much stopped having big hits in the US. They remained more popular in the UK and in 1965 they reached #2 over there with, to me, one of their greatest records, The Price Of Love. In the UK it has had many interesting covers, as the Status Quo did it in the late 1960s and in the mid 1970s Brian Ferry made a very good version. The song does not seem as popular here, though not that long ago Buddy Miller did it and did it very well. The Everly's version, the big UK hit really must be heard!

The Feminine Look

Mickie Most is mostly known as a producer, and sometimes as a producer who really hacked off his own artists, like Donovan and Terry Reid and the Yardbirds. Still, he was very successful over more than two decades. Early on, though, Most was a singer. He wad a good deal of success in S Africa during the beginning of the 1960s, returning to London in 1962. Most was one of the first producers to use Jimmy Page and Big Jim Sullivan regularly, and this 1963 example, though the lyrics are a bit stereotyped, has much wonderful Page!

Sitting By The Window

The weather here in Chicago has alternated between beautiful and then cold and damp. It has been raining again for hours and promises to rain off and on ALL day. In that spirit, let's hear this Moby Grape which includes the rain among its mise-en-scène to an emotional lament. It really is a moving and beautifully sung record!

Put It In

Drummer and producer Bill Curtis oversaw the rise of The Fatback Band and he has been involved in many aspects of r&b, funk, latin and rap for decades. This is one of his earlier productions featuring guitarist and singer Johnny King. It borrows from River Deep Mountain High to develop a strong and memorable groove. It seems to have been released in 1968.

Better Beware

I just love the music Esther Phillips made. Though she had a tumultuous life and battled drug use, she made her singing mark on blues, r&b, jazz and soul, just to cite the most obvious. She was an accomplished singer at age 15, and had big hits on her own or with Mel Walker. Most of her early records were overseen by the great Johnny Otis, and she benefited from his big band. Better Beware opens with staccato lead guitar from Pete Lewis leading to and a stirring arrangement. After Phillips has her pointed say, Ben Webster enters on sax, relaxed at first and then he gets going. Lewis follows him. It is truly amazing how much music and emotion fit into less that two minutes and forty seconds!

Evil Ways

Because of Santana, the Willie Bobo tune, Evil Ways, has become well known. It was written by Bobo's guitarist, Clarence Henry and appeared on album in 1967. A rock group from East L.A., The Village Callers, recorded their version in the late spring of 1969 for the L.A. label Rampart, and it did well enough in California markets that it was picked up by the Bell label in September. It's popularity was noticed by employees of CBS in San Francisco, and they started a campaign to have it released as a 45, since Santana's Jingo had died. They were successful and at the very end of December, Evil Ways became the second Santana 45, and hence a big hit. It isn't just that the Village Callers deserve some note; their record is also really great and deserves to be heard. If it is really true that the accomplished pianist Hector Rivera had something to do with their management, that would also give the Callers a direct tie to the N.Y.C. latin soul and boogaloo scene. But I have no idea if that is actually true.

Going Back Home

Harmonica Slim (Travis Blaylock) has spent most of his musical life as a sideman, playing on records that are not by him. He has made one well respected album and at least four 45s. This is on the earliest, and it is a beautiful example of harmonica blues. He has the right, almost natural tone and though it was most likely recorded in Los Angeles, it could pass for something done in Chicago during the mid 1950s, which is when it was recorded. Once upon a time, blues records like this were not uncommon. That is not at all the case now.