William Onyeabor - Love Is Blind

William sounding vaguely new wave to me on this one. I haven't heard anything about if/when any Onyeabor reissues will appear. Mr. Comb & Razor, any news?

The Cryan' Shames - The Sailing Ship

To me this sounds more like a '90s retro-psych outfit trying to write a psych tune than an actual '60s psych tune. (Indeed, the Brian Jonestown Massacre covered it.) Kudos to Jim Fairs for the Baby You're A Rich Man-style psychedelic bagpipes.

Official Cryan' Shames National Fan Club
P.O. Box 473
Oak Brook, Illinois

Lee Hazlewood: Dark In My Heart

"I asked a girl for lovin' and she walked in the phone booth,
That ain't cool - in the phone booth"

The Honeybus - For Where Have You Been

Draw an afghan blanket over your knees and curl up beside the fire with this Colin Hare-penned ditty, notable for its surprising (to me) chord changes, great lyrics, and velvety harmonies that might be influenced by the word "thyme" in "Scarborough Fair."

What's that? I hear my tea boiling on the kettle. Talk soon...

New Viva show (#104) in the archives. Designed for an imaginary pre-concert lot hang.

FROM THE ARK HIVES

Legend - Heather On The Hill

original air date: 3/10/09

This is a by-request archival repost, going out to Robert in Lawrence, Kansas. Is it me or does the tape warble a little at the beginning of this?

Courtesy of JB, who sent me a link to this Playmobil performance of Joy Division's "Transmission" as performed on BBC2's "Something Else".

When evil grooves happen to good people.

The Grease Band - New Morning

As I mentioned previously, there's a new mastermix in the works. It'll be a combination of highlights from the last six months and a fresh batch of "new" songs. But these things take time, and so to stem the creeping tide of moribundity I offer this amuse-bouche, featuring British journeyman legends Henry McCullough (Eire Apparent; Wings) on vocals and guitar and Alan Spenner (Wynder K. Frog; Roxy Music) on vocals and bass. Kind of like with this one, I'm not sure I ever really noticed the melody on this tune until I heard this version. A huge number of bonus points are bestowed for the Harrisonian arpeggios at 0:28.

Soon come, rastas. Soon come.

Is city life dragging you down? Get it together in the country tonight with a charming mix of sylvan obscurities, courtesy of Mr. Dave Lerner. The mix airs tonight at 6 PM on Viva Radio, and you can always hear it after the fact here.