Joe Jackson: You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)

A truly inspirational Joe Jackson song, when at that time weren't too many. Hearing Can't Get Whatchu Want always gave me a boost.

>>posted by SPC

Ten City: That's The Way Love Is

'88 dance song. Only heard on BLS in '88, because they were played at the Garage, and Chief Rocker, Frankie Crocker, was a Garage devotee. Some def shit.

>>posted by SPC

The East St. Louis Gospelettes: Have Mercy On Me

Today's selection comes to us courtesy of my man DJ Wicz, who has put together a fabulous compilation of '70s gospel entitled In God's Hands. See here for all the juicy details and ordering info.

Also: I'm taking a staycation this week and my main man Kool DJ SPC is coming in for relief duty. I'll be back after Labor Day. Like The Tempos said, "See you in September..."

Dead Kennedys: Holiday In Cambodia [1980]
Dead Kennedys: Too Drunk To Fuck [1981]

Nouvelle Vague's version of TDTF led me back to DK, a band I hadn't listened to in quite a while. Classic.

Buy the career-spanning compilation Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death here.

Stevie Wonder: Lookin' For Another Pure Love [1972]

"Things you cherish most in your life,
Can be taken if they're left neglected,
Leavin a problem in your life."

(Jeff Beck on lead guitar.)

Richie Havens: Going Back To My Roots

Described as the 25th most Balearic recording of all-times by djhistory.com, and as a "real toe-tapper" by one anonymous Amazon reviewer, this cut features Sly & The Family Stone alumnus and session legend Andy Newmark on drums. (Andy may have flown directly from this session to the Roxy Music "Avalon" sessions in the Bahamas.)

I would also like to add that Richie's voice sounds great on this.

from the album Connections

executive producer: Michael Lang

written by Lamont Dozier

Not talking bout the root in the land...I'm talking bout the root in the man.

Damn Sam The Miracle Man & The Soul Congregation: Smash

Siouxsie & The Banshees: Christine [1980]

Seminal New Wave.

Buy Kaleidoscope here.

Casino Music: Faites Le Proton [1979]

With:
Gilles Riberolles - Guitar
Eric Weber - Bass
Jean-Michel Lemeur - Drums
Anatole Mundi - Piano

Buy Casino Music here.

The Police: Synchronicity II

Lyrically and musically, this song was a stroke of "g".

Well done, lads.

ULTIMATE ALBUM SIDE PLUS TWO

Orlandivo: Orlandivo [1977]

Lado A:
Tudo Jóia
Um Abraço No Bengil
Gueri-Gueri
Tamanco No Samba*
Juazeiro

bonus cuts from Lado B:
Onde Anda O Meu Amor
Bolinha De Sabão

arranged by João Donato, and featuring João on all keyboards

*This tune "Tamanco No Samba" in particular is kind of my jammer of the summer so far. Orlandivo really funks up the vocals on the 3rd verse (beginning at 2:19).

Tina Turner: Backstabbers [1979]

Off Tina's less-than-successful 1979 foray into disco.

Buy other Tina here.

Howard Tate: Stop

produced by Jerry Ragovoy

This is the mono mix, taken from the box set Beg, Scream & Shout.

REMINDER: The next installment of our radio show drops (in other words, "begins") today at 2 PM on Viva Radio. Not unlike last week's program, today's show is comprised mainly of highlights from the early days of this blog. As always, you can listen to the archived shows at your convenience at viva-radio.com/artdecade.

Alarm Will Sound: Gwely Mernans [2005]
Alarm Will Sound: Jynweythek Ylow [2005]

Alarm Will Sound is an interesting young orchestra of virtuosi who convincingly play challenging modern pieces. These two tracks are from a 2005 album of Aphex Twin covers.

More Aphex Twin with Brian Eno here.

Buy Acoustica: Alarm Will Sound Performs Aphex Twin here.

TWO FOR TUESDAY

Pilot:
January
Canada

According to my sources, January was Pilot's biggest hit in the UK, although it sank like a stone in the US. Very hard to argue with the handclaps on this.

Bryan Ferry: A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall [1973]

Here's another Dylan cover. 24 years before releasing Dylanesque Bryan Ferry released this Dylan cover on These Foolish Things.

Buy These Foolish Things here.

Joe Cocker: Seven Days [1982]

I was mildly amused to see a poster advertising a Joe Cocker concert in a city I visited this summer. I hope he's retained the band that backed him up in the YouTube video below. I highly recommend watching the last 40 seconds of the song, beginning around 4:50. I hope Dylan collected his royalty check.



Buy Joe Cocker here..

Billy Paul: East

written by T.W. Brown

produced by Gamble-Huff

from the album Going East

Leonard Cohen: Master Song [1968]

I recently realized that Leonard Cohen has never appeared on this blog. This one's off his debut.

Buy Songs of Leonard Cohen here.

The Bălănescu Quartet: Computer Love

from Possessed

Jerry Garcia & David Grisman: Milestones [1992]

Seems appropriate.

Buy So What here.

I am back with a Mac and it turns out that blogging with a Mac is a bitch.

Rolling Stones: Hot Stuff

from Love You Live

recorded "live" in Paris, June, 1976

artwork by Andy Warhol

If anyone's in the market for a new metal detector, check out the new Bill Wyman Detector.

NOTA BENE: We're very pleased to announce that we have a radio show now, at the excellent Viva Radio. The show will be Wednesdays at 2 PM, starting today. The first show features standout tracks from the early days of this blog (in case you missed them the first time), and kicks off with my favorite track that I've ever posted here. Check it out. You can also listen to our archived Viva shows at any time by going to viva-radio.com/artdecade.

Nice.

Family Fodder: Cerf Volant

from Monkey Banana Kitchen

Gabor Szabo:
Love Theme From Spartacus*
Sombrero Sam#
Country Illusion@

* written by Alex North
# written by Charles Lloyd
@ written by Wolfgang Melz

from the album Magical Connection

Calexico: Sunken Waltz [2003]
Calexico: Dub Latina [2003]


Music for a hot summer afternoon. These both come from 2003's Feast of Wire album. I think I first listened to Calexico on Foster Street, so, Big B, this is for you old chum!

Percy Faith: First Light [1973]

from the album pictured above

written by Freddie Hubbard

arranged & conducted by Percy Faith

The Beach Boys: Sail On Sailor [1973]


Greetings. I just got the Holland/Carl and the Passions CD and have been listening to it a lot lately (well, Holland anyway - C and the P's not so much). This from that. That's Blondie Chaplin on vocals, if you're interested.

On another note, did anyone catch the Stax Records documentary on PBS last night? I saw very little, but that very little looked good.

CAN: I Want More and More [1976]

Cobbled together from tracks 1 and 4 off of Flow Motion. Michael Karoli taking a page from Bo Diddley's book with his guitar work here.

Toots & The Maytals: Get Up, Stand Up [1979]

from the classic Pass The Pipe

Reggae Sunsplash 2K7 continues (we seem to have heeded Davy's clarion call to add more reggae to the blogosphere. Cheers, Davy -- and happy birthday!)

This is an LP my dad had so I heard this a lot as a lad. (Cheers, Dad.)

bonus beats: the same song, vinyl-ripped from my dad's copy

Note that this is not a cover of the Marley/Tosh classic but an entirely different tune of Toots's own devising.

lead vocals: Toots Hibbert
background vocals: Jerry Mathias and Raleigh Gordon

Get on the morning train
For the evening train will be too late

The Wombles: Womble Of The Universe (in which Orinoco dreams he is an astronaut) [1974]

from the album Keep On Wombling

words & music by Mike Batt

Hearing the music from this mid-'70s UK children's television show again brings back a flood of memories for me -- memories of August 2006, when I was introduced to this song via Waxidermy (big thanks to Alan).

Vocals / sax: Orinoco
Lead guitar: Wellington
Bass guitar: Madame Cholet
Violin: Great Uncle Bulgaria
Drums: Bungo

"Are you never coming down now?"
I heard everyone say
"If you want to come down,
You know it's okay."

The Mighty Clouds Of Joy - Mighty High

from the album Kickin', recorded at David Studios, Atlanta, GA

written by David Crawford and Richard Downing

lead vocals by Joe Ligon and Johnny Martin (maybe?)

This hit #1 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart in January of '76 and remained locked in that position for 5 weeks. Another installment in our ongoing "Roots of Garcia" series, that is, original versions of songs that Jerry G. used to cover. See here and here for the other installments.

Take a load off your mind
Ride the mighty glory
Listen to my story
Ride the mighty high

Take a load off your mind
Ride the mighty glory
Listen to my story
Ride the mighty high

The Tennors:
Weather Report [early '70s?]
Pressure And Slide [1967]

This goes out to "andy", who in response to last Thursday's Tennors post demanded "more like this!!!"

Weather Report is adapted from Simon & Garfunkel's The Only Living Boy In New York. Lead vocal by Ronnie Davis.

Blind Willie Johnson: In My Time Of Dying [1927]

recorded in Dallas, Texas

I just got back from a bit of travelling, and this was my go-to track for coping with the takeoff-terrors on airplanes.

"Dying will be easy."

Barrington Levy: Here I Come [1985]

My favourite part: when the beat kicks back in two bars "early" at the 2:26 mark.

The Who: Eminence Front [1982]

This was supposed to be one of the first songs on this site, and then I saw that it had been a Bumrocks joint back in the day so I shelved it, and then it got bandied about on Dream Chimney so I shelved it again, but dammit, the time has come for E.F. to have its day in the sun on this blog. Just a massive, massive track and one of the best things they ever did. Inspirational and confrontational. Hats off to The Ox for his work on the choruses.

This was also one of my favorite videos from the early days of MTV. Note that the video is a live-on-soundstage performance of the song, not a lip-synch.

from the album It's Hard

The Original Broadway Cast of Hair:

Frank Mills
What A Piece Of Work Is Man
The Flesh Failures

There's a dizzying array of vocal and instrumental versions of Hair material out there, but I remain partial to this album. Goosebump city.

Bo Diddley: Bring it to Jerome [1955]

A high-five to 'The Orginator' with a song for pal & bandmate Jerome Green who contributes maracas and vocals on the memorable chorus: "All you pretty women, bring it to my home...."

The Tennors: Ride Yu Donkey

Kraftwerk: Metal On Metal [1977]

written by Ralf Hütter

This was taken from Dread Meets B-Boys Downtown. I like the way it's mastered on that disc.

The Carpenters: Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft (The Recognized Anthem Of World Contact Day) [1977]

from the album Passage

bonus beats: the original Klaatu version [1976]

Shocking Blue: Love Buzz [1969]

from At Home

Philippe Sita:
Ndeko Na Ngai
Tora-Tora
Bar' Ba Kongo
[1986]

This was a pretty decent sidewalk find. I bought it, for $5, from a guy who had lined his records up against a fence on the southeast corner of 6th Avenue and West 4th Street. The record was recorded in Brazzaville, the capital of the République Populaire du Congo (that's the "other" Congo, the one that isn't Zaire). Even better, the sleeve is signed by Philippe Sita himself! I can't quite translate the inscription due to my inadequate French and Philippe's handwriting, but it is addressed to "William" and dated "N.Y. 14.04.89". I know nothing whatsoever about Philippe Sita or Congolese music in general, but this is a good record.

Ndeka Na Ngai: strong Latin influence. Nice to hear these joyful sounds emanating from the Congo.

Tora-Tora: amazing polyrhythmic breakdown at the 2:56 mark. Millennia of rhythmic traditions kicking in and making my brain explode.

Bar' Ba Kongo: check out the ending.

NOTE: Our friend Mike will be back shortly. If you see him, say hello. He might be in Tangiers.

Yo La Tengo: No Return [1998]

written by Ray Davies

from the Little Honda EP

I wasn't planning to post this today, but I woke up with it running through my head, so I've chosen to honor that subconscious impulse, for good or for ill.

Die Doraus Und Die Marinas: Fred Vom Jupiter [1982]

available on Mute Audio Documents

Keith & Tex: Stop That Train [1968]

available on Derrick Harriott's Rocksteady Party

Roxy Music:
Pyjamarama [single A-side, March 1973]
Pyjamarama [recorded "live" at the Glasgow Apollo, November 2, 1973]

bonus beats:
Roxy Music: The Pride And The Pain [B-side of the Pyjamarama single, 1973]

available on The Thrill Of It All and Viva!

The UK top 40 for March '73:

1 Slade - Cum On Feel The Noize
2 Donny Osmond - The Twelfth Of Never
3 The Faces - Cindy Incidentally
4 T Rex - 20th Century Boy
5 The Detroit Emeralds - Feel The Need In Me
6 The Strawbs - Part Of The Union
7 Roberta Flack - Killing Me Softly With His Song
8 Alice Cooper - Hello Hurray
9 The Sweet - Blockbuster
10 Focus - Sylvia
11 Jimmy Helms - Gonna Make You An Offer You Can't Refuse
12 Dave Edmunds - Baby I Love You
13 The Jackson Five - Doctor My Eyes
14 Cliff Richard - Power To All Our Friends
15 Thin Lizzy - Whisky In The Jar
16 Gilbert O'Sullivan - Get Down
17 Gary Glitter - Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)
18 The Partridge Family - Looking Through The Eyes Of Love
19 Kenny - Heart Of Stone
20 The New Seekers - Pinball Wizard / See Me Feel Me (Medley)
21 Cockerel Chorus - Nice One Cyril
22 Shirley Bassey - Never Never Never
23 Timmy Thomas - Why Can't We Live Together
24 Dawn feat. Tony Orlando - Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree
25 Neil Sedaka - That's When The Music Takes Me
26 Stevie Wonder - Superstition
27 Little Jimmy Osmond - Long Haired Lover From Liverpool
28 The O'Jays - Love Train
29 Olivia Newton-John - Take Me Home Country Roads
30 White Plains - Step Into A Dream
31 Electric Light Orchestra - Roll Over Beethoven
32 Gladys Knight & The Pips - Look Of Love
33 Elton John - Daniel
34 Blue Mink - By The Devil
35 Roxy Music - Pyjamarama
36 Focus - Hocus Pocus
37 Junior Walker & The All Stars - Take Me Girl I'm Ready
38 Judge Dread - Big Seven
39 The Beach Boys - California Saga
40 David Cassidy - I'm A Clown / Some Kind Of Summer

two Focus songs in the top 40!

Igor Stravinsky: Apollo (Apollon Musagète) [1979]

performed by the Orchestra of St. John's, Smith Square
conducted by John Lubbock

Igor puts the "class" in neo-classical with this beaut, composed in 1927-28.

ripped from this CD

Véronique Sanson: Amoureuse [1972]

words & music by Véronique Sanson

from the album Amoureuse