Pentangle - So Early In The Spring

Recorded "live" at the Royal Albert Hall, June 29th, 1968.

So here's another great hall with great acoustics, speaking of Webster Hall. It's right up there with Cleveland Music Hall. (See here for context.)

Cathy Berberian with the Juilliard Ensemble - Black Is The Colour

Arranged & conducted by Luciano Berio.

"Black is the Colour" is an American folk song with Scottish roots, re-melodicized by John Jacob Niles.

This performance was recorded at Webster Hall, New York City, December 1968. (Anyone planning to head down to Webster Hall tonight?)

Steely Dan - Rose Darling

I'm claiming this as the definitive Steely Dan deep cut. (Brooklyn, the song Gaucho, Green Earrings, Caves Of Altamira, Time Out Of Mind, Any Major Dude, the song The Royal Scam, and Midnight Cruiser don't count as deep cuts.)

The juxtaposition of this verse and this chorus yields an interesting mixture of colours/flavours. Close harmonies from Michael McDonald at 1:12. Perhaps his biggest challenge until he harmonized with himself on Peg?

The pre-chorus bit (at 1:04) reminds of this.

More Dan of Steel-related material coming tomorrow!

Danielsson & Pekkanini - Otroligt Blåst Och Dum

A question for our Scandinavian friends: Is the bit at 1:56 an old Swedish drinking song (I hope)?

Medicine Head - Rising Sun

May 16th? Feels like it's time to throw a couple of ice cold thirty packs of Stroh's in the back of the pickup truck, don jean shorts and no shirt, and head for the gorge with some Medicine Head on the box.

The Supremes - Love Is Here And Now You're Gone

So many "lost love" songs in the Supremes/H-D-H canon: Reflections, this one, Stop in the Name of Love, Where Did Our Love Go, etc. Are torch songs an endangered species in pop music these days?

The bass sound gets intriguing around the 0:36 mark, like there's chorus on it. I'm pretty sure this is because there's a Fender bass and an upright bass playing in more-or-less unison throughout.

Perhaps it was the harpsichord bit at 0:42 that earned Lamont Dozier the hard-earned sobriquet, "Black Bach"?

P.S. This is soooo much better than modern pop music!!!

The Supremes - Reflections

The psychic bow drawn at 0:40 is released at 0:50, like a corkscrew to your heart.

Holland-Dozier-Holland et al. cavorting quite near the tippy-top of Mount Parnassus on this one.

Les Espions - Casse-Tête Jungle

Some soundpillows for your spring.

Love - Can't Explain (mono mix)

Noisy proto-punk jangle from Arthur and the lads. One can easily hear why these folks covered it.

X-Ray Pop - Oh Oui J'Aime!

I wanted to post this four years ago (true!), but couldn't seem to find a copy of the record or tape (though it doesn't seem so difficult now?). Anyroad, thanks to the folks at Cache Cache for the reissue. All good things in all good time.

Killing Joke: Change

Saturday, 10 pm, 96 Orchard Street. I'll play the tuneskis, you drink the brewskis.