RIP Joe South

Joe South

Listen/Download – Joe South – Mirror of Your Mind

Greetings all

I just heard on Wednesday of the passing of the great Joe South.

I originally posted this song back in 2010, and I’ve had it running through my head on a loop for the last few days.

South was a master, and his catalog as a performer and songwriter is deep, but this is an especially good one so I thought I’d repost it.

I hope you dig it and I’ll be back on Monday.

Peace

Larry

Originally posted 4/15/10

Greetings all.
Is it Friday already?
As has been discussed here previously. I generally digimatize vinyl as it falls through the mail slot, building up as big a backlog as possible so that when the time comes to dip into the reserves and select something for blog-i-fication, I can let inspirado take me by the hand.
Sometimes – assuming there’s enough stuff held in reserve – my fevered brain manages to wrap itself around something interesting and we all win. Other times, how do they say, not so much.
However, sometimes when the end of the week comes, I can look back on what I posted on Monday, and something ricochets around the old cerebellum and a shiny little light bulb snaps on over my head and the gears start to turn.
It just so happens that this is one of those weeks.
I mad mention in Monday’s post (about the Candymen)  about the way certain Southern rockers were privy to a special, sub-Mason/Dixon blend of rock, country and soul. This is not to say that such a combination was never attempted up thisaway, but rather that it tended to come more organically to our friends in Dixie.
As a standard issue 1970s longhair, I knew the name Joe South, but only by virtue of the fact that he was the cat that penned ‘Hush’ (made famous by the early incarnation of Deep Purple), ‘Down In the Boondocks’ (Billy Joe Royal), ‘(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden’ (HUGE hit for Lynn Anderson) and even ‘Yo Yo’ for the Osmond Brothers. He also had a sizable hit with another original composition, the oft-covered ‘Games People Play’, a Top 40 hit in early 1969.
It was probably 15 years between when I grabbed my first copy of ‘Shades of Deep Purple’ and my first, actual Joe South record, that being the 45 of ‘Games People Play’ and today’s selection ‘Mirror of Your Mind’.
Now, as an astute observer of my fellow record heads I was aware that South’s own recordings, composed of a kind of era-specific (i.e. adorned with a psychedelic fringe or two) country soul, were held in very high esteem by some folks who I in turn respect. Unfortunately, despite no small amount of searching on my part I have never encountered any of South’s albums in the field.
This, in addition to the fact that I stupidly assumed (cue Felix Unger) that the ‘Mirror of Your Mind’ by South was the same song known to garage punk fans as having been recorded by We the People. Naturally, as soon as I played the 45 I discovered that this was not in fact the case, but was also pleasantly surprised by how groovy the South’s tune was.
If I had to draw a parallel to another familiar artist, I might connect Joe South to someone like Tony Joe White, at least in a stylistic way. South was a much more prolific (and successful) songwriter, but he and White shared a certain buckskinned, blue-eyed soul vibe, all wrapped in a certain amount of crossover appeal.
‘Mirror of Your Mind’ starts off with a twangy electric sitar line (similar to that on the more famous a-side), followed by South’s gruff baritone and some vaguely countrypolitan strings and backing vocals. Unlike much of what was coming out of Nashville at the time, South whips the whole mix together with some hard hitting drums, wah-wah guitar and a truly far out psychedelic interlude that must have caused countless country fans to drive into roadside ditches with alarmed cries of ‘What in tarnation?!?!?’
It’s a fairly long, involved affair as well, clocking in at just over four and a half minutes.
A very groovy cut, by a very interesting cat.
I hope you dig it and I’ll be back on Monday with something cool.

Peace

Larry

 

PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some funky soundtrack action from Quincy Jones.

Iron Leg Radio Show Episode #12

Beep beep beep beep…..

Playlist

Opening – Action Scene – Hawkshaw/Mansfield (KPM)
The Coopers – Didn’t I (White Whale)
The Coopers – Leave This Man Alone (White Whale)
The Bobby Green Selection – What’s That Sound (White Whale)
The Jay Jays – I Know In My Mind (White Whale)
Les Sauterelles – Dream Machine (Deram)
Love – The Red Telephone (Elektra)
The Kaleidoscope (US) – Pulsating Dream (Epic)
The Kaleidoscope (UK) – Flight From Ashiya (Decca)

Fairport Convention – A Tale In Hard Time (A&M)
Fairport Convention – Reynardine (A&M)
Traffic – Feeling Good (UA)
Jack Bruce – Rope Ladder To The Moon (Atco)
Mighty Baby – House Without Windows (Head)
Osmonds – Traffic In My Mind (MGM)

Monkees Spot
Monkees – Pleasant Valley Sunday (Colgems)
Beau Brummels – One Too Many Mornings (WB)
Lively Set – Let The Trumpets Blow (Capitol)
Sunrays – Andrea (Tower)
The Woolies – Who Do You Love (Dunhill)
Paul Revere and the Raiders – Get It On (Columbia)
Kingsmen – Little Sally Tease (Wand)
Five By Five – Hang Up (Paula)
The Feathers – Trying To Get To You (Team)
British Walkers – That Was Yesterday (Cameo)
Cast of Thousands – Girl What You Gonna Do (Tower)

Listen/Download -Iron Leg Radio Show Episode 12 – 162MB/256kbps

Greetings all.

Welcome once again to the Iron Leg Radio Show.

This time out we have some very groovy new arrivals, including some great examples of late period Nederbeat (Neder-Freakbeat?), trippy folk rock, long-form Traffic jam, Murray Wilson madness, pop-soul, garage punk, sunshine pop and a couple tracks pulled out of left field.

As always, I hope you dig it (and if you do, check out the previous 11 episodes in the archive) and I’ll be back next week with something cool.

Peace

Larry

 

PS Head over to Funky16Corners

Boyce and Hart – I’m Gonna Blow You a Kiss In the Wind +1

Bobby Hart and Tommy Boyce

Boyce and Hart with Elizabeth Montgomery as ‘Serena’ on Bewitched

Listen/Download – Boyce & Hart – I’m Gonna Blow You a Kiss In the Wind

Listen/Download – Boyce & Hart – Smilin’

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you all well.

Late last week I was slacking in front of the TV set and one of my fave guilty pleasures, the 1968 film ‘Where Angels Go Trouble Follows’ came on TCM.

It’s not a particularly fantastic movie, but it does carry with it a great flavor of the times, as well as the confusing spectacle of the unbearably hot Stella Stevens dressed as a nun.

What it also has is the outstanding title song by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart.

Boyce and Hart are remembered mainly as the guys that wrote so many cool songs for the Monkees back in the day, or (mainly by women that were teenyboppers during the mid-to-late 60s) as slightly aged teen idols.

Though they’re probably more famous for writing songs like ‘Last Train to Clarksville’, the duo recorded some excellent records of their own, like the brilliant ‘Out and About’ (from 1967, covered in this space a few years ago) which they performed on an episode of ‘I Dream of Jeannie’.

A few years later, they would perform one of today’s selections on another popular sitcom.

Oddly enough, I didn’t originally know of ‘I’m Gonna Blow You a Kiss In the Wind’ as a Boyce and Hart song, having first heard it covered on the 1984 Redd Kross LP ‘Teen Babes From Monsanto’. I was actually lucky enough to see Redd Kross perform the song live a few years later.

When I finally picked up a copy of the Boyce and Hart original (and saw the episode of Bewitched that contained the song) I was pleased to discover that I dug the OG even more than the cover.

The Bewitched episode includes two performances of the song, one by Elizabeth Montgomery as ‘Serena’ and again by Boyce and Hart.

The Boyce/Hart ‘I’m Gonna Blow You a Kiss In the Wind’ was the last 45 they released as a duo (in the Fall of 1969).

Though the record has a bubblegum heart, the delivery is a little harder edged than most of that genre and has an excellent arrangement by Jimmie Haskell.

The single is also notable for carrying with it a most excellent B-side with ‘Smilin’.

Despite the fact that both sides of the single were top notch pop, neither song made even a minor dent in the charts.

I hope you dig both tunes, and I’ll be back next week.

Peace

Larry

 

PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

Iron Leg Radio Show Episode #10

Beep beep beep beep…..

Playlist

Hawkshaw/Mansfield Action Scene
Rumplestiltskin – Rumplestiltskin (Bell)
Mighty Baby – Been Down So Long (Head)
Steve Marcus – Rain (Vortex)
JK and Company – The Magical Fingers of Minerva (White Whale)
Jethro Tull – Fat Man (Chrysalis)
Grateful Dead – Doin’ That Rag (Alt mix) (WB)
Grateful Dead news spot

49th Parallel – (Come On Little Child and) Talk To Me (Maverick)
13th Floor Elevators – Livin’ On (International Artists)
Artie Schroeck Implosion – Six O’Clock (Verve)
West – The Dolphins (Epic)
Virgin Sleep – Halliford House (Deram)
Timebox – Gone Is the Sad Man (Deram)
Tommy Keene – Back Again (Try) (Dolphin)
The Dentists – I’m Not the Devil (Homestead)
Bonnie Hayes and Wild Combo – Girls Like Me (Slash)
‘Valley Girl’ Trailer

The Sneetches – And I’m Thinking (Bus Stop)
The Sneetches – Watch Me Burn (Bus Stop)
The Sneetches – The Dog In You (Bus Stop)
The Sneetches – Flying On the Ground Is Wrong (Bus Stop 45)
Chad Mitchell – For What It’s Worth (Amy/Dunwich)
The Poor – Feelin’ Down (Decca)
The Poor – She’s Got the Time She’s Got the Changes (York)
Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart – Out and About (A&M)
Changing Tymes – How Is the Air Up There (Philips)
Hullabaloo Radio Spot

Listen/Download -Iron Leg Radio Show Episode 10 – 167MB/256kbps

Greetings all.

As hard as this is to believe it’s already time for Episode 10 of the Iron Leg Radio Show.

This time out we have some very groovy stuff, including some prog, psyche, Sunset Strip action, a touch of easy and a lot more of the good stuff you’ve come to expect.

I hope you dig this episode, and I’ll see you all next week.

See you next Monday.

Peace

Larry

 

PS Head over to Funky16Corners

Iron Leg Radio Show Episode #6!

Beep beep beep beep…..

Playlist

Opening – Action Scene – Hawkshaw/Mansfield (KPM)

Intro – Alan Hawkshaw/Keith Mansfield – Action Scene (KPM)
Tweeds – We Got Time (Coral)
Sandy Nelson – Boss Beat (World Pacific)
Royal Guardsmen – Leaving Me (Laurie)
Wool – Combination of the Two (ABC)
Walker Brothers – Orpheus (Philips)
Yardbirds – White Summer (Epic)
Wizards From Kansas – High Flying Bird (Mercury)
Bert Jansch – Poison (Transatlantic)
Left Banke Coke Spot

Free Design – Kites are Fun (45 Mix) (Project 3)
Free Design – Kijes Quija (Project 3)
Free Design – Bubbles (Project 3)
Free Design – 2002 (A Hit Song) (45 Mix) (Project 3)
Free Design – California Dreaming (Project 3)
Free Design – You Could Be Born Again (Project 3)
Free Design – I Found Love (Project 3)
Free Design – Windows of the World (Project 3)
Free Design – Butterflies are Free (Project 3)
Free Design – Jack In the Box commercial (Jack In the Box)

Bobby Vee – The Passing of a Friend (Liberty)
Bobby Vee – One (Liberty)
Bobby Vee – Lavender Kite (Liberty)
Poco – Hurry Up (Epic)
Poco – Anyway Bye Bye (Epic)
Topanga Canyon Orchestra – Crimson and Clover (Uni)
John Frangipani – Venus (Mainstream)
Electric Prunes – Luvin (Reprise)

Listen/Download -Iron Leg Radio Show Episode 6 – 171MB/256kbps

Greetings all.

Welcome to the sixth edition of the Iron Leg Radio Show.

As always we have a very nice stack of the platters that matter, with some fuzzed out garage punk, Now Sound action, a very healthy serving of the Sunshine Pop of Free Design, folk rock, country rock (the good kind) and some unexpectedly cool pop from someone you might not expect.

I hope you dig it all, and if you haven’t already heard them, head back into the archives for the first five episodes.

See you next week.

Peace

Larry

 

PS Head over to Funky16Corners

Poco – Hurry Up

Poco – Rusty, George, Tim, Richie and Jim

Listen/Download – Poco – Hurry Up

Greetings all.

I hope the commencement of another groovy seven day cycle sees you all in a good place (physically, spiritually etc).
I’ve discussed the concept of the record collection – once it has achieved a certain ungainly size – becoming something of a living and breathing entity.

While I don’t get out to dig as much as I used to, I don’t really need to anymore since as I write this I find myself surrounded my records (large and small) that seem – in spite of impossibility – to be verily pulsating and closing the narrow gap that remains between us.

If I ever really want to listen to something ‘new’, all I need to do is dip down into the existing crates, where I will find records not-yet-listened-to, or unjustly neglected, whether it be an overlooked LP track or 45 b-side.

Today’s selection is one of those records I picked up on a whim from the dollar-bin a while back and for a variety of reasons never took the time to listen to.

A few weeks back I was putting some records away from a recent DJ gig and happened upon this particular LP and pulled it out so it would be neglected no more.

Good thing too, since I was pleasantly surprised with how good it was.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned it here before, but I’ll say it again; aside from Arthur Lee and Love, my all-time favorite US band from the 60s was the Buffalo Springfield.

I’ve been a huge fan since I first picked up a well-worn copy of the ‘Retrospective’ collection at the local flea market when I was in my teens, and have absorbed their music as deeply as just about any band, including the Beatles.

The given, at least as I saw it, was that the Springfield was really the stage for the eternal creative struggle between Stephen Stills and Neil Young, with Richie Furay – while very talented – inhabited a second tier of sorts.

I was well aware that Furay had founded Poco after the dissolution of the Buffalo Springfield, but – despite being a big fan of nascent LA country rock – never really explored their music.

So, when I sat down to record the group’s second album ‘Poco’ (from 1970) I am not overstating the case when I tell you that it caused me to drastically reconsider my assessment of the balance of power within the Springfield.

Formed in 1968, with Furay and Jim Messina from the Buffalo Springfield, and Randy Meisner, Rusty Young and George Grantham coming from two different Colorado bands (Meisner from the Poor, Young and Grantham from Boenzee Cryque), the group originally called themselves Pogo, until threatened with legal action by the creator of that cartoon character, Walt Kelly.

They changed their name to Poco, and recorded their first album in 1969.

There were a lot of different brands of ‘country’ bouncing around LA in the late 60s, with varying degrees of purist sentiment, pop content and rock drive, coming from artists as diverse as the Byrds, the Monkees and Rick Nelson (Meisner would join his band after departing Poco).

Poco managed to carry on a good deal of the Buffalo Springfield sound, instrumentally and vocally, mixing in a dash of Bakersfield as well.

The tune I bring you today, ‘Hurry Up’ is my favorite from the ‘Poco’ LP. Written by Furay, the song has enough Sunset Strip left in it to be mistaken for a Buffalo Springfield outtake. The harmonies sound as if lifted from any of the Springfield’s three LPs with Furay ably assisted by Timothy B. Schmidt (late of the New Breed, later of the Eagles) who had by this time replaced Meisner.

The Buffalo Springfield comparison is especially apt since on this track (and many of the others) Poco manages to take a basic, late 60s LA rock vibe and augment, but never obscure it with the addition of a certain amount of country flavor.

Like the Flying Burrito Brothers (who had Sneaky Pete Kleinow), Poco had the good luck to find a visionary pedal steel player in Rusty Young. Young had the ability to work in the ‘standard’ style of the instrument, as well as the imagination and skill to bend it into unusual new shapes (that organ sound in ‘Hurry Up’ is Young’s pedal steel).

The big question that comes up for me, is why Poco didn’t have the success of the Eagles. My best guess is that the Eagles had a certain pop accessibility that the majority of their competitors lacked. This is not to say that Poco couldn’t write great songs, but rather that they were more of a rock band – with all the good things that come with the name – than the Eagles were (until Joe Walsh popped into the mix), rendering them – like the Buffalo Springfield – sometimes too sophisticated for their own good. A song like ‘Anyway Bye Bye’ has more subtle twists and turns in it than any whole album by the Eagles.

That said, I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll see you all next week.

Peace

Larry

 

PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

Moody Blues – This Is My House (But Nobody Calls)

The Magnificent Moodies (Mr. Laine, at left with git-box)

Listen/Download – Moody Blues – This Is My House

Greetings all.

The new week is here, and if you haven’t given the very first Iron leg Radio Show a listen, you should doso since it is (if I say so myself) quite groovy and filled with lots of cool music. You can click on the Iron Leg Radio Show tab in the header. The new episode will appear in this space sometime around 6/15.

In other news, if you’re in or around NYC this Monday 5/23, I’ll be returning to Spindletop @ Botanica, and while I usually DJ soul and funk, I’ll be digging in my garage punk, beat, freakbeat and frat rock crates, so if that sounds like something you might enjoy hearing, fall by (47 E. Houston St, NYC) and join me for some 45s and a cocktail or two.

The tune I bring you today is an old fave, and while it appeared in a mix here a few years back, it certainly deserves to be heard on its own, so here it is.

I have stated here before that while I dig the Moody Blues in their various incarnations (both moody and blue), I am an especially big fan of the brief transitional period in 1966/67 when they were getting the tiniest bit freakbeaty, having departed from the blues and R&B influences of their beginnings, but not yet having passed into their psychedelic period.

There is of course a very clear dividing line here, that being the one the runs between Denny Laine (the original lead singer, years before he became a Wing alongside his pal Macca) and Justin Hayward, he of the groovy blond mod cut and deep, sonorous voice.

Today’s selection ‘This Is My House (But Nobody Calls)’ was the Moodies last widely circulated 45 of the Laine era (there was one other that was withdrawn almost immediately) from October 1966.

This is the sound of a band steeping in the pop of the mid-60s with the jangly guitar, jolly piano, good-timey hooks and the crazy, somewhat werewolf-ian “awoooo” backing vocals.

It’s one of those songs that is positively impossible not to sing along with, or if not, at least to generate a good, solid fit of head nodding and foot tapping.

Unfortunately this appears to have caught the band in a bad stretch since it didn’t even chart in the UK, which is probably more of a testament to the fact that in 1966 the radio was absolutely filthy with great music, and this little gem just got lost in the shuffle.

It would be a little over a year before the band returned to the charts (in a big way) with ‘Nights In White Satin’.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back next week.

Peace

Larry

 

PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

The Spats – She Done Moved

The Spats ABC LP (above),
Lead singer Dick Johnson on Shindig (below)

Listen/Download – The Spats – She Done Moved

Greetings all.

Anybody in the mood for some fuzz?

It’s been a since I dropped some of the good old garage punk stuff on you, and I assure you that today’s selection will remedy that, and then some.

A while back I finally gave in and picked up the Rhino boxed set ‘Where the Action Is: Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968’.

I had hesitated on picking it up only because I had taken a look at the song list and seen a whole lot of stuff I already had on vinyl.

I have gone into the subject countless times, but I will reiterate once again that I have a very special place in my heart for the mid-60s sound of the Sunset Strip. There’s something about the mix of jangle, fuzz, pop hooks and nascent psychedelia that hits the pleasure centers of my brain in just the right way so that I end up half-conscious with a big, dumb smile on my face.

Once again the folks at Rhino have done a superb job putting together a heaping helping of amazing music (much of it new to me) and presented it in a dynamite package with tons of info, and groovy pics.

I said that there was a lot of familiar stuff in the set, but the stuff that was unfamiliar was by and large absolutely amazing.

As is the case with any great compilation, I walked away from it with a pack of new records tacked onto my want list.
One such track was ‘She Done Moved’ by the Spats.

I’d never heard of the band before, but their record was a bit of pure garage brilliance.

If you could take the zeitgeist of early 1966 LA and put in in a meat grinder, the delicious sausage that would be extruded couldn’t possibly taste any better than ‘She Done Moved’.

The song itself is pretty simple (it is in fact an adaptation of Lonnie Johnson’s 1928 ‘Kansas City Blues’), but the arrangement is a crunchy, fuzzed out, attitude soaked piece of punky perfection.

I had never heard of the Spats before and was surprised to discover that for a brief time in the mid-60s they were all over the place.

Based in southern California, the Spats were formed around the core of the three Johnson brothers, Dick (the lead singer), Charles and Ronnie. They got their start as apack of teenage house rockers, recording loose and inspired, R&B based frat rock like ‘Gator Tails and Monkey Ribs’.

They appeared on American Bandstand (you have to see their performance of ‘Gator Tails…’ which includes some of the most spasmodic ‘choreography’ I’ve ever had the pleasure to witness), Shindig and the Jerry Van Dyke sitcom ‘My Mother the Car’ and apparently had a semi-regular gig at Disneyland.

If you take a look at the group performing on Bandstand, it’s hard to believe that they would ever be capable of a record like ‘She Done Moved’.

They were a tightly wound mass of Brylcreem and matching suits (wearing spats, natch) with some of them looking like they’d just escaped a junior high student council meeting.

By the time they recorded ‘She Done Moved’ in 1966, they had been joined by Doug Rhodes (later of the Music Machine and the Millennium). I found an interview on-line where Rhodes says that he was actually playing a Hammond organ on ‘She Done Moved’. He apparently wasn’t in the band very long before moving on to bigger and better things.

The flip side of ‘She Done Moved’ is a positively awful, good timey, tack piano tune called ‘Scoobee Doo’, which may provide one of the widest quality gaps between two sides of a 45 that I’ve ever encountered.

I hope you dig the tune ( I know you will) and I’ll see you next week.

Peace

Larry

 

PS Head over to Funky16Corners for a Hammond burner supreme!.

John Barry RIP

NOTE: This week we got the sad news that the mighty John Barry, the dean of 1960s film composers passed away.

When you get a moment, see his Wikipedia entry for an idea of his vast catalog and influence.

I decided to mark his passing by reposting two very different tunes of his that have appeared at Iron Leg over the past few years.

I hope you dig them, and I’ll be back on Monday.

Peace

Larry

John Barry – A Man Alone (Jazz Version) – originally posted 5/2009

John Barry

Listen / Download John Barry – A Man Alone (Jazz Version)

Greetings all.

I hope all is well with you this fine Friday (or Thursday late depending what position you hold on the globe).
The tune I bring you today is something groovy with a dash of international intrigue.
A variation on the theme from the ‘Ipcress File’ (a different arrangement of the same number appears on the other side of the 45) ‘A Man Alone (Jazz Version)’ is one of my favorite John Barry selections. Barry, who has been featured here before (in his pre-soundtrack era) composed and performed the soundtracks to countless films and television shows from the early 60s on.
‘The Ipcress File’ was the very first ‘Harry Palmer’ film for the mighty Michael Caine and was adapted from the novel of the same name by Len Deighton. The 1965 espionage thriller is a primed example of a swinging 60s take on the ongoing cold war, and Caine is – as always – the very epitome of dry, limey cool.
‘A Man Alone (Jazz Version)’ swings along aggressively with a beatnik edged hi-hat and bongo pulse, before the main theme is stated by the unofficial spy theme instrument of record, the cymbalum (or some variation on the cymbalum/santoor dulcimer-esque hammered thingy), which carried in its tinny strings the very essence of mysterious international intrigue, with the fezzes, lugers, dark Eurasian back alleys and trench coats.
Barry does change things up a little (the “jazz version” one would assume) with a decidedly English-sounding horn chart, featuring a just-this-side-of-incongruous alto sax (maybe doubling a muted trumpet?) solo.
Sit back, close your eyes and visualize Caine speeding down a dark, rain-slicked street chasing (or being chased by) nemeses from behind the Iron Curtain.
Groovy indeed.
I haven’t seen the movie in a few years, and I can’t remember if this piece actually appears in the film. If you know (this means you Bill…), drop me a line.

The John Barry Seven – Monkey Feathers – originally posted 12/2008

John Barry Seven

Listen / Download – The John Barry Seven – Monkey Feathers

Greetings all.

The end of the week is upon us, and I have a special treat for you all.
One of the great bones of contention between my lovely wife and I is the movie ‘Zulu!’, the 1964 epic retelling of the Battle of Rorke’s Drift in South Africa. It’s one of the great war/action movies, Michael Caine’s first starring role, and as much as I love it, the wife hates it.
Some years back, my man Mr. Luther passed on a tape with a couple of tracks from the soundtrack, one of which I bring you today.
For some reason, I used to think that the John Barry leading the John Barry Seven was not the hugely successful soundtrack composer who wrote many of the most famous James Bond related themes, as well as the theme to ‘Midnight Cowboy’ (the famous instrumental, not Fred Neil’s ‘Everybody’s Talkin’).
As it turns out they are in fact the same guy. Barry got his start as a jazz arranger, moving on to composing for British teen idol Adam Faith, composing the soundtrack to the cult film ‘Beat Girl’.
He went on to work on the Bond films, and then on to ‘Zulu’.
While the theme to the movie – the a-side of this very 45 – is a cool Shadows-esque tune, ‘Monkey Feathers’ takes the whole reverb thing and runs with it, adding a surf-like feel over a martial beat.
Very cool.

Peace

Larry

 

Tuli Kupferberg 1923-2010

I just heard the news that in addition to the loss of Harvey Pekar, founding member of the Fugs, Tuli Kupferberg has passed away at the age of 86.
I’ve always had a soft spot in my ears (and heart) for the music of the Fugs as a link between the Beat era and the freak scene of the 1960s.
Here’s a clip of the band from 1968, and a repost from earlier this year.

The Fugs

Listen – The Fugs – Group Grope – MP3

Originally posted January 2010

Greetings all.

Last week I was wandering around the interwebs somewhat aimlessly and I happened upon the announcement for a benefit to help the ailing Tuli Kupferberg.
If that name is unknown (or only vaguely familiar) to you, allow me to mention the group of which he was a founding member, The Fugs.
Kupferberg, now an unbelievable 86 years old has suffered two strokes recently that have left him blind. There will be a concert for his benefit on January 22nd St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, featuring performances by Ed Sanders, Lou Reed, Philip Glass, Sonic Youth, John Zorn and others (further details below).
Back in the day, Kupferberg, and his fellow just-post-Beat poet Sanders (also known as the author of ‘Tales of Beatnik Glory’ and ‘The Family’) formed the Fugs as a kind of rock/poetry/performance art/provocation/general nuisance in Greenwich Village. They succeeded on all levels, crafting a number of cool albums, including a couple for the storied New York alternative label ESP-Disk, of which ‘The Fugs’ from 1966 was their second.
Though I certainly knew who the Fugs were, I didn’t actually hear any of their music until the late 80s, when I picked up their first two albums on CD. I wasn’t sure what to expect, since long-term ingestion of 60s/70s rockcrit spew seemed to indicate that the Fugs were punk (in the truest sense), offensive (though that is certainly a matter of perspective, since their lyrics wouldn’t raise many eyebrows today) and completely insane.
I had arrived at a time where I had investigated all the obvious 60s garage/psyche avenues and was peeking down every back alley I could find. When I took a turn down Fugs St I was pleasantly surprised to find it lined with many of the usual 1965/66 type sounds, whipped into a crazed meringue, closer in spirit to Little Richard than William S Burroughs.
The tune I bring you today, ‘Group Grope’ hails from that 1966 album and sounds like Sanders and Kupferberg hijacked Dylan’s ‘Highway 61’ band and stuffed them full of LSD. The vocalists spend just over three and a half minutes going buck wild over a foundation of guitar, electric piano, bass and drums.
It’s all about…

“Dope, peace, magic gods in the tree trunks and GROUP GROPE BAY-BEEEE!!!!”

…as well as other, similar sentiments.
It’s a great sound, and if it were just a little stoopid-er and a little younger and a little less urban it might pass for garage punk.
If you dig it – or were hopefully already hep to the Fugs – and you’re in the area, go to that benefit and hobnob with some of the giants of New York underground history, and help Tuli pay his medical bills. Surely that man that helped created something as solid as ‘Group Grope’ deserves a little peace in his golden years.
I hope you dig the song, and I’ll be back later in the week.

Peace

Larry