Jack Name - Pure Terror

Still mining gems from the Jessica Pratt twitter feed. When will it end? Maybe never. Anyroad, here's a jammer with a kind of Classic Rock 101 chord progression (e.g., "Dear Mr. Fantasy") that somehow transcends the conventions to become a true New Year's Eve Jammer that will carry you through 2013 and well into the mid-2010's.

Happy New Year, good people, looking forward to more good tunes and good times ahead.

The Jack Name LP drops in 2014!

For persons seeking two and a half hours (and counting!) of deplorable self-indulgence from me and my mates, see here.

Podcast #8, recorded the night of Sunday December 22nd / Monday December 23rd, 2013:
first set
second set
third set
fourth set

Featuring ArtDecadeMike, Sheridan Dupre, Emmett, and a special call-in from Big B in Texas!

If you feel that this ends too soon, not to worry; this is just the first 2 hours. Set three to be uploaded soon!

The Hollies - Stop Right There

Gap Dream - 58th St. Fingers

Allow me to be the 19th music blog to post this song, but presumably the first to note that the guitar line reminds him of this, while the synth ostinato (look it up, bitches) reminds him of what kicks in at 0:44 in this?

Lots more Gap Dream music available here. I will take this link down in a day.

new Viva show (#151) in the archive

...and it's a good one. All selections culled from the twitter feed of the great Jessica Pratt (@JessicaPrattSF), and they're all $$$...

amusingly featuring this classic.

So by all means acquire some Jessica Pratt music and be sure to enjoy this kickass hour-long mix: listen here

David Sylvian: The Healing Place

You didn't hear? It's all going down tonight (Friday December 6) at Cafe Dancer, on Manhattan's fashionable Lower East Side, 10 pm to 2 am. You should definitely come to this - no matter what.

I got the 45 of this, which I'll probably play, and of course I'll inevitably end up playing this again. Maybe ring in some holiday cheer with this? And if things go exceptionally well - this.

See you there, rastas!

P.S.: I think I'm going to play this one and this one too.

Metrô - Beat Acelerado ‎

This is the level of frothiness I'm shooting for this Friday (December 6th, 10 PM to 2 AM) at Cafe Dancer. Come down if you can!

David Bowie: Eight Line Poem, live at the BEEB.
But the key to the city
Is in the sun that pins the branches to the sky

Remember the Curls

Adam Ant: Deutscher Girls
Lead track off the '82 compilation 'First Edition' as selected by Editions EG.

Podcast #7, recorded the evening of Sunday November 3rd/Monday November 4th, 2013:
part 1

Please join Sheridan Dupre, me, Terry Melcher, Robert Zemeckis, Candice Bergen, Dinah Shore, Shecky Green, Werner Herzog, Walter Spade, Martin Amis, Roman Polanski, Donald Fagen, Fagin, Walter Becker, and countless others for 2+ hours of good tunes and fourth-rate persiflage.

[This is just the first hour and 25 minutes.  Part 2 to be uploaded shortly.]

part 2

...featuring David Crosby, Grace Slick, William Shapesphere, Johnny's Records, Peter Max, and thousands more.

Podcast #6, recorded in the wee hours of Wednesday October 30th, 2013:

part 1 (100 megabytes)
part 2 (102 megabytes)

...and there's yet another epic podcast already recorded featuring Sheridan Dupre (!!!!), which will also be uploaded "soon."  I know, I know; I'm the worst.

I'm DJing again at Cafe Dancer (96 Orchard Street, just south of Delancey Street, Manhattan) on Friday December 6th at 10 PM, so mark your calendars for that, and please excuse my relative inactivity on this blog as I focus on stockpiling festive vinyl to play at that event.

P.S.  Email me if you want to know what any of the songs are in the podcast.

The above is happening Saturday night, on the Lower East Side.  I'm considering playing this.  Please do cruise by.

Seventh Anniversary Spectacular! 


Ivor Cutler - Beautiful Cosmos
Caetano Veloso - Um Canto De Afoxé Para O Bloco Do Ilê 
Bermudas - Chu Sen Ling  
The Fleetwood Mac - You Make Loving Fun (alternate mix)
Walter Gieseking - Grieg: Traumgesicht   
Equals - Funky Like A Train (live)
Jo Stafford - You Belong To Me

Yes, it was seven years ago today.  Stay tuned for two (2) seventh anniversary podcasts - one featuring Sheridan Dupre (!!!), which should both be posted within the next two weeks.

Thanks so much to Duane for the tip on that Equals number.

Anybody got any leads on any hot jams from 2007?  I tried for two weeks to do an all-2007 playlist and found essentially nothing.

Thanks again for your support.  One wonders how the remainder of this decade will unfold?

"Time is a stripper, doin' it just for you."

Grateful Dead: Comes a Time

At this point it was probably three years ago or more when Emmett challenged me to post my favorite Comes a Time.  Well, here it is.  And I know it's not perfect.  I mean, I rarely venture beyond '74 myself, there's no real bottom to the sound, but good lord, Garcia.  He's the only guitarist whose solos I'm apt to describe as compassionate.

And 10 points to whoever guesses what they go into after this selection on this evening in August at the Cap so many years ago.

Les Baxter his Chorus and Orchestra - The Poor People Of Paris (La Goualante Du Pauvre Jean)

A few of my fave youtube comments for this song:

"Every time I hear this song it takes me back to driving to vacation in Florida from Jersey along route 301. It was 1956, I was only 5, but it was all over the radio. It was a great time to be a kid. My Dad loved this song."

"this song takes me back to my childhood in omaha, nebraska, were i lived in a catholic orpanage named: St James, It was run by the Sisters of Mercy.  I loved that place and the nun's who were over us. It was in the 50" and I felt love there, and it was the happiest days of my life."

"This reminds me of watching late night television, either the Bijou Picture Show or The Late Show if it was Saturday night. I keep thinking of either Carol Channing or Ethel Merman for some reason. Fond memories of my youth."

"Fifty-five years ago, when my mom and dad went out to this one lounge in Baltimore, the organist who had a regular Saturday gig there would launch this one when they came in."

"Highway 301....we took that to Florida from PA. too....."

"....Not much left to 301 now. It was a lot like Route 66, but a north-south Mother Road. It would be great if someone came up with a book about how to travel what's left. You could stop in South Carolina to buy fireworks, pick up peaches the size of grapefruits from the farmer's fruit stands in Georgia. Little Mom & Pop motels, but you had to check out the room before deciding whether to stay for the night. Every diner had different local food. A great road trip for sure."

"Like so many of you I was there, enjoying what I think was one of the best times America will ever see! Seems like we were all so high on the joy of living with WW11 behind us we knew what the hell of war really was.. and with that behind us we could really appreciate what peace really means...we were world winners and the economy was a healthy animal..we celebrated our children and let them grow up a little more spoiled and wild than before..It was a great place to be..."

"This song is one of my earliest human memories. I must have been about 3 when it was it was out. Great song."
 

"Dad's favorite song. He passed away in his sleep last year, simply of old age, at 102 years, A great man and father. I will miss him always."

 

"An oldie and a goodie. Today's music sucks, it doesn't come close."

"Les Baxter His Chorus And Orchestra* – The Poor People Of Paris (La Goualante Du Pauvre Jean) - 1956 - Jazz, Easy listening - VG+ - 3€ + Shipping - if interested just contact me. Thanks"

"My Mom's favorite and it reminds me of her so much...love this song, and I love and miss my Mom so very much"

"This song saved me from some serious mental problems....something about it cheered my inner soul and gave me hope. Hard to define but it did it to me"

"I remember this song, played every afternoon on the radio on quiet, cloudy summer days."

The Flock of Seagulls - Wishing (instrumental)

The triumphant return of Mike Howlett to these pages.

World Standard - Pasio

Ray Davies - Voices In The Dark

Daddy likes the change at 0:46, 1:13, etc.

I keep wanting there to be a bar of 2/4 at 1:49, 2:58, etc. Maybe I'll do an edit.

Grateful thanks to Wombletunes for the peel-off.

Kate Bush - Suspended In Gaffa

This song single-handedly pulled me through late August and most of September, 2013. Was I suspended in gaffa?

Alternate cover art by request.

Joe Brown and the Soul Elderados - Vibration (part two)

A youtube rip for the people.

Eat The Dream - Wedding Procession

Seemingly no instrument -- bass, guitar, celesta (?) -- is fully in tune with any other instrument, or with itself.

The latent connection to Pearl Jam, "Black" becomes explicit at the 0:59 mark.

If you have a copy of this record, can I have your copy?

Aalon - Rock 'n' Roll Gangster

Thanks to the always inspiring Duane Harriott for the peel off on this chart-topper.

You can stay, you can stay awake for days and days
But rock 'n' roll is here today

The Byrds - Airport Song

3's a Crowd - Gnostic Serenade

Words & music by William Hawkins. Vocals by David Wiffen. Produced by Mama Cass. Vinyl rip by the amazon mp3 store. For the transcendent Esther Ofarim version, see here.

And I am trapped on this crazy star
I've been a prisoner all my days.

Spaghetti Head - Funky Axe

Saturday Night Special

The Bermudas - Donnie

Lemon Jelly - Soft

The London Jazz Four -
Rain
Yes It Is

I'm posting some songs from the already-posted "podcasts."

"Ra-ai-ai-ai-ai-ai-ain, I don't mind." It took me a minute to hear that in the bridge on this.

available on compact disc

Mike Curb Congregation - Nixon Now

Nixon: I don't know, do you think the kids, the so-called flower children, will fall for it?

Ehrlichman: Oh yes, sir. I think this will do the trick.

Nixon: I'm still not sure.  Do you think, perhaps, it would be better if I sang?

Ehrlichman: A wonderful idea sir, truly wonderful, and it would definitely work.  Your voice, sir, is like a rare bird. But it's already been recorded by Mr. Curb, and there are those out there, largely hoodlums and troublemakers, rabble-rousers, sir, who wouldn't listen to anything you said or sang.

Nixon: Is this the sort of thing that people listen to? At folk music sit ins, and on television?

Ehrlichman: All of our research says yes, sir.

--Nixon Tapes, vol 17

Podcast #5, recorded August 10th, 2013: download here (156 mb)

Heavy breathing, jurassic tempos, a surprise Pixies cover, and a hidden connection between Pavement and Family Fodder revealed.  Email me for the tracklist: artdecade1977 at gmail dot com.

Looks like tickets are still available for this rare screening of the Bowie-related film Christiane F at Lincoln Center this Tuesday August 6th, and yours truly will be DJ'ing the pre-party and the after-party! Copious post-glam avant-rock on vinyl is in the offing. See you there?

podcast #4, recorded July 19th, 2013: download here (192 mb)

More Beatlecentric musings, white-knuckle mixing, and exploding plosives to soundtrack your long hot summer nights.

To see the full tracklist, email artdecade1977 at gmail dot com with "tracklist" as the subject.

I'll be back with another one the week of August 5th August 12th!

                    John Lennon & Yoko Ono - Angela

This is the first in a series of some 400+ posts in which I pair old photographs my dad took with apropos songs.  I'll be doing one a month for at least the rest of my life.

.

 
Darrow Fletcher - The Pain Gets A Little Deeper 
The Hollies - Wings
Caetano Veloso - Maria Bethania 
Don Cherry - Terry's Tune  
Bob Summers - Blue Skies 
Miss Abrams And The Strawberry Point 4th Grade Class - I Never Asked
Cymande - Genevieve 
Wizzard - You Got The Jump On Me  
General Lee And The Space Army Band - We Did It Baby (parts 1 and 2)  
Kevin Hewick - Haystack  
Star Buck - The Full Cleveland  
Love Positions - Into Your Arms
Gramme - Two Minds

all-in-one zip file

Hey party people, here are some of the new arrivals from June. For some reason the Yahoo media player seems to have stopped working out of nowhere after 3 (?) years. Any advice?

Podcast #3, recorded 6/27/13:
Part 1
Part 2
 
Send an email with "tracklist" in the subject field to artdecade1977 at gmail dot com to see the full tracklist. All comments, correspondence, and questions welcome.

Podcast no. 2, recorded in the wee hours of Sunday, June 16th, 2013 - stream and download here.

This one gets a little spacey in the second hour. Maybe I'll try to start earlier next time.

Email me for the tracklist and to subscribe to the tracklist mailing list. Just send an email with "tracklist" in the subject heading (no further text necessary) to artdecade1977 at gmail dot com.

Image: Sol Le Witt: A Square For Each Day Of The Seventies (1981) 

EMMETT PRESENTS... WEEKLY* PODCASTS!

Hey folks, I recorded a two-hour podcast. There's some talking in the beginning, middle, and end, but mostly unbroken chains of music. I'm going to try to start doing this every week. Email me for the tracklist! artdecade1977 at gmail dot com

download/stream here

*or monthly? Hopefully at least biweekly once summer holidays are concluded.

Jackson 5 - Forever Came Today

I'm loving Michael's vocal on this. And to see some ridiculously good footwork/showmanship, go here.

Mungo Jerry - Memoirs of a Stockbroker

Hearing this ditty penned by a then twenty-five-year-old Ray Dorset, I was reminded of these thoughts from Richard Ellman on James Joyce's The Dead:

"That Joyce at the age of twenty-five and -six should have written this story ought not to seem odd. Young writers reach their greatest eloquence in dwelling upon the horrors of middle age and what follows it."

new Viva show (#145) in the archive

This 1993 mix is done, such as it is. Many thanks to all who offered suggestions. And if anyone wants to send me her copy of this, please do get in touch.

*FYI you have to go to show #145 to hear this. #146 is a long story.

John Cage - Music For Marcel Duchamp

Performed by the great Stephen Drury, another gem from this must-own CD.

Nice to hear the riff from You Really Got Me* anticipated at 0:47.

I like the music video for this song too.



"I asked her (Gita Sarabhai) what her teacher had said was the purpose of music. At the same time another composer with whom I was closely associated at the time (Lou Harrison) was also concerned to discover why we were writing music. The Indian musician told me that her teacher had said the purpose of music is to sober and quiet the mind, thus making it susceptible to divine influences." 
 -John Cage
(hear the full interview here)

*kind of more the Van Halen version

Reload - Le Soleil et la Mer

Subnation - Golden Hen

New Radiant Storm King - Phonecall

If you attended college in the northeast U.S. in the early-to-mid '90s, you either A) were in a band that sounded like this; B) were dormmates with someone in a band that sounded like this; or C) were yourself a member of New Radiant Storm King.

The opening guitar notes remind me of this one.

...and I'm still welcoming suggestions for this 1993 project.

Clydie King - The Thrill Is Gone

There's a certain moment in a certain Rolling Stones song where I've always thought the background singer's voice sounded amazing, and I've wondered who that singer was. For a while I actually believed it might be Ronald Dyson. Yet Wikipedia indicates it was either Tami Lynn, Dr. John, Clydie King, Vanetta Field, Shirley Goodman, or Joe Green. After listening to some clips of those singers I concluded that the golden pipes in question probably belong to Vanetta Field, but along the way I heard the Clydie King song posted above, which I like, and at the end Clydie really kills the falsetto in a phrase which incidentally reminds me of Jimmy's vocals at 4:13 in this, the horn-laden outro jam of which is remarkably similar to that of Loving Cup, as it happens.

Up Above The World - Trying To Reach You

Many thanks to Plague for recommending a David Holmes mix in which this appears. I believe the correct adjective for this track is "unhinged."

And I'm still seeking recommendations for an all-1993 playlist. Please post ideas in the comments either here or here.

Extra - Enjoy

Enjoy.

Les Chakachas - Turtle Soup

I wonder how they got that cool distant-becoming-near effect on the horns.  I'm hoping it's that they recorded the horns in an ancient Roman amphitheatre with two mics, one near and one far, and adjusted the relative volumes of the two mics over the course of the mix.

Les Chakachas of course best known for Jungle Fever.

John Cage - In A Landscape

Performed by Stephen Drury and available on mp3 and compact disc.
 
I am at peace with the fact that the part at 4:41 reminds me of Seal - "Kiss From a Rose."

Fats Waller - Baby, Oh! Where Can You Be?

Dedicated to my daughter Maisy, born April 4th, 2013.