IN THE MIX: IN THE 70's VOL. 1

Stinky writes: The goal of the IN THE MIX series is to combine two of my favorite things: music and trivia. These are tracks that have contributions by famous friends or, in some cases, NOT-YET-FAMOUS friends.  My favorite type are songs where the artist has a luminary lend a hand—and once you’re made aware of their contribution, you can’t believe you didn’t pick up on it straight away—and you can’t UNHEAR it.  

One of the best examples on this edition is Phil Everly providing backing vocals on Warren Zevon’s "Hasten Down The Wind".  Warren was, at one point, paying the bills by leading The Everly Brothers live band, and Phil was kind enough to help him out.

Some of them are uncredited contributions, like producer Pete Townshend playing bass on Thunderclap Newman’s "Something In The Air", or 60’s folk-rocker Donovan providing falsetto vocals for Alice Cooper’s "Billion Dollar Babies".

In some cases, the songs are bolstered by the artist who’s quietly IN THE MIX working as a session man; as in the case of Rick Derringer playing on Steely Dan’s "Showbiz Kids" and KISS’ "Larger Than Life" (from the studio tracks on ALIVE II).

There are a few artists IN THE MIX (on this 70’s edition) that were omnipresent at the time.  Michael McDonald was singing for Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers, and provided backing vocals on Kenny Loggins’ "This Is It".

Fleetwood Mac practically owned the charts in the 70’s after Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham replaced Bob Welch.  Mick Fleetwood managed Bob’s post-Mac career, and Fleetwood, Buckingham, & McVie back him on "Hot Love, Cold World".  Buckingham & Nicks were eager to help their friends and back booth Walter Egan and John Stewart on this compilation.  (John Stewart himself is a treasure-trove of trivia.  He wrote The Monkees’ "Daydream Believer" AND was a 1960’s member of The Kingston Trio!)

Another 70’s powerhouse, Queen loved to collaborate with others (like David Bowie), and on this volume the whole band ably assist Ian Hunter on "You Nearly Did Me In.  Freddie Mercury tags in to lend vocals to Andrew Gold’s "Never Let Her Slip Away".

Toni Tennille (of The Captain & Tennille) and Bruce Johnston (of The Beach Boys) both contributed vocals to Pink Floyd’s "In The Flesh".

Perhaps the most interesting inclusion is Forrest McDonald playing guitar on Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band’s ubiquitous "Old Time Rock & Roll".  The cocky teenaged guitarist was a fan of The Swampers.  While on vacation in Alabama, he dropped by Muscle Shoals Sound Studios asking if he could play on a track.  They had him lay down a solo on what they were working on — partly to humble him — and damned if they didn’t keep what he played!  He wasn't credited on the album but was added to the credits on subsequent greatest hits comps.

King Sunny Adé & His African Beats: Ja Funmi - The Island Years

Koen writes:  My introduction to ‘world music’ probably came through a freebee cassette from NME magazine in 1985, called All Africa Radio, a pretty cool collection of artists and groups from that particular continent who at that time were mostly unknown to me.

This was very different music from what I usually listened to, but somehow a lot of it appealed to me and made me pay more attention in future to those artists. At first I bought some albums and cassettes, but later moved on to CDs. I still have all the Celluloid New Africa compilations!

Earlier this month I read an in-depth article about Island Records boss Chris Blackwell’s attempt to come up with a successor to Bob Marley and instead of another Jamaican group, he chose an African band: King Sunny Adé & His African Beats.

The story is a great read of how King Sunny Adé & His African Beats made 3 albums for Island Records but in the end failed to have a similar impact as Bob Marley…  Afterwards I found a similar well-written review about their first album from 1982, Juju Music on Pitchfork.

A final check at Discogs turned up a number of singles, both 7 & 12 inch, and those 3 albums, but not even a compilation of those Island years, unbelievable! Lo and behold, another Jokonky project was born!  Ja Funmi: The Island Years (1982 - 84) features 11 tracks from the above, 75 min. of great music, plus the two articles in question!

Let's Build A Carcass

Koen and Stinky recently shared compilation LP's that were formative influences.  The compilations that shaped my tastes (more than any album) were mixtapes.  Growing up in the suburbs without older siblings, I started exploring outside the musical mainstream by trading tapes with penpals, who I found via fanzines.

The Miami Carcass was a fanzine based in Oxford, Ohio (home of Miami University), and the guy who ran it (whose name I have regrettably forgotten) was kind enough to share advice on starting my own zine as well as sending me tapes.  It was 1981, so a lot of the first wave punk bands were gone.  Hardcore and anarchopunk were on the rise. "No Values" and "No Government" were nihilistic, raw and revelatory.

I was buying vinyl, tapes and zines by mail (and traded zines after starting my own).  There were so many records I wanted to hear, but I couldn't afford them all.  I asked my friend at The Miami Carcass for Crass, The Fall, and Adam & The Ants, because I had read about them in the World Update issue of Slash.  I also asked about records that were reviewed in the Carcass.  A couple of Ohio bands (Toxic Reasons and Dementia Precox) were on these mixtapes, as well as some wonderful surprises like P-Nissarna's pisstake of Plastic Bertrand.  

My interest in The Fall, Rough Trade and San Francisco punk begins here.  Let's Build A Carcass (today's share) features most of what was on those mixtapes. 

PREVIOUSLY ON JONDERBLOG: WQFM'S "Q-Wave", a Milwaukee radio show that also helped me discover new wave, punk and local bands.

Get To Know Stinky

This three record set was one of the best purchases of my early teenage years [sez Stinky], and that includes buying nice copies of both The Beatles' Revolver and Alice Cooper’s Billion Dollar Babies LPs at a yard sale for fifty cents apiece shortly after I reached double digits.  

It was the early seventies and music was in a terrible state.  The Beatles had broken up and Paul McCartney & Wings’ Venus & Mars and Band On The Run and Ringo’s Goodnight Vienna had landed with me more than Harrison or Lennon’s music.  Disco had reared its ugly head and obscured almost everything else, driving me into a box of 45’s my much older sister had left behind that was full of wonders that included girl groups: The Shirelles, The Cookies, The Dixie Cups, Dionne Warwick, and Annette Funicello.  

In the early 70’s, record labels tended to lose interest in releases that had left the charts, and reissue labels like Rhino were struggling to become a national presence.  I remember paying $10 for a pretty trashed copy of a Best Of The Shirelles LP because it was “collectible” at what may have been the only record store that sold used records in my town — and they didn’t last long fleecing school kids like they did. 

My point is that you really had to seek out oldies.  The popularity of American Graffiti gave me a two record set of great early rock & roll/doo wop, and the sequel stirred in some classics from the 60’s (but wasn’t nearly as good a film).  There were a couple AM oldies stations that played songs that straddled the two soundtracks like Gary Lewis & The Playboys and The Classics IV.  Songs which were about ten years old at the time!

These events, and the fact that each radio station DJ played whatever they wanted back then, made me the shambling musical omnivore I am today.  Even the jukebox at the local burger joint had Ernie’s Rubber Duckie, Johnny Winters’ Frankenstein, and Bloodrock’s D.O.A. on it.  

I was given a 45 of The Tubes’ Don’t Touch Me There that got a lot of spins.  In addition I loved Rod Stewart & The Faces, The Kinks, Tommy James & The Shondells, Nancy Sinatra, The J. Geils Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zeppelin, Cream, The Eagles, Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show, Dion & The Belmonts, Dr. Demento, George Thorogood, and Loggins & Messina.  Country was popular where I lived, so I was happily exposed to George & Tammy, Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Ray Price, Waylon Jennings, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Conway Twitty.

I was into pretty mainstream stuff when I was a high school upperclassman — until punk & new wave finally reached the desolate location where I lived — and I added The Ramones, The Dead Boys, The Cars, The Pretenders, more Tubes, and Nervous Eaters which I bought at the second used record store in my town around 1980.  One of my more intuitive purchases, which led to my taking a chance on a lot of other artists I’d never heard of before.

But 1980 is musically way ahead of where I began my love affair with THE #1 HITS OF THE 60’s.  When I bought it in 1975, I got $10 a week in allowance — so the $7-$8 I mailed away for the Special TV Offer was a substantial investment, and one of the best I’ve ever made.  THANK YOU, Adam VIII Ltd.  You made my childhood a lot better.  And the concept was as simple as Seuss; nothing but #1 hits! 

I’ve recreated the track listing using digital copies because the three records were in nearly constant rotation first on a child’s turntable, and then on my first all-in-one sound system with an 8-Track player!  I probably listened to all three records once a week for a couple years.  Although I still have my treasured copy, no one would want to listen to that.  

While the cover art isn’t going to make Hipgnosis sweat, it has a simple charm, and they put some thought into the track order.  And unlike K-Tel and Ronco — the dominant forces in compilations at the time — the tracks were as fat as a regular album so they played good and loud, and none of the songs faded out to make them fit.  And it featured 40 original hits by the original artists.  Since then, I’ve accidentally bought K-Tel cassettes in person that were re-recordings by one or more of the original band members. So this collection is dear to me not only because of its surprising quality and value, but because it offered me an oasis in a desert of disco (which, I’m glad to say, I now appreciate).

Dutch Pirate Stations and Nederbeat

Koen recently celebrated a vinyl-only evening with two old friends.  On his own blog, Koen writes: My generation grew up with vinyl records; 45s, eps, and lps, a.k.a singles, extended plays, and long-play albums. Two Dutch radio pirate stations, Veronica and Noordzee, were of utmost importance as they were often first playing new exciting rock and pop songs.

Dutch TV only had 2 channels and there wasn’t that much shown regarding ‘pop’ music… Fast forward to 2024 when we are literally swamped with instant access to streaming music courtesy of the internet, forget about cassettes, CDs, or even mp3s.

The first to be played from my vinyl collection that evening was Dank U!, a 1970 lp of Dutch artists under the banner of Radio Veronica (a well-known pirate station in those days), which was released for two purposes: the 10th anniversary of the station & raising funds for charity.

Later I realized that it gives an excellent (though short) overview of the Dutch Nederbeat at that time, from The Tee-Set to Golden Earring!

And since this lp was never released on CD, I decided to make a digital version of it for your listening pleasure!  The zipfile also includes a history of Radio Veronica and a detailed pdf with background info on this album and the artists.  

And for a bonus share, since we missed two days of posting this week, 12 Jaar Radio Veronica is (as you may have guessed) more Nederbeat gems compiled to celebrate the pirate station's 12th anniversary.

PREVIOUSLY ON JONDERBLOG: jonder reminisces about Q-Wave, a Milwaukee radio show that introduced a lot of punk and New Wave music to an impressionable teen.

Keep My Name Out'cha Mouth #4

 

CLEAR THE DECKS WEEK rolls on relentlessly, with daily posts for your downloading pleasure.  There were two year gaps between the first, second and third posts in the Keep My Name Out'cha Mouth series, but here we are with Volume 4 already, not 24 hours since the last one!  BAM!

This one is a personal favorite, because Stinky included some favorite bands of my punkish youth: Redd Kross, the Leaving Trains, and a deep cut from the first Vandals record! A tribute to Koen's fearsome rockabilly idol (Crazy Cavan) is also included.  What a thoughtful friend we have in Stinky!

There's a similar series of mixes at the Unherd Music blog called Hello My Name Is..., but songs in that series are strictly limited to famous names, and Roy hasn't posted one of those mixes in quite a while.

Speaking of Redd Kross, tomorrow is the official release date of their brand new self-titled double album on In The Redd Records!  The US tour begins on July 2, the Born Innocent documentary is making the rounds of film festivals, and the McDonald brothers' memoir (Now You're One Of Us: The Incredible Story of Redd Kross) will hit the shelves in October!!  It's a full on multimedia assault!!!  Neurotica is coming down fast!!!!

Forgive my excitement... back to our regularly scheduled programming (already in progress)... please enjoy Volume Four of Keep My Name Out'cha Mouth!

Keep My BRAND NAME Out'cha Mouth!

 

Here's a new twist on a theme that Stinky has previously explored.  Keep My Name Out'Cha Mouth (volumes 1 and 2) was our 100th post (back in 2020) and Volume 3 materialized almost two years later.  Now it's 2024, so I guess it take two years to generate these things? Our pal Mr. LePew has a mind that moves in mysterious ways...

As you can tell from the post title and the logos on the cover, the new variation is songs that mention brand names rather than people's names.  America loves fast cars, fast food, and soft drinks, and we celebrate them in song -- as well as clothing, cosmetics, and other consumer goods and services.  After all, we ARE living in a material world, are we not? 

A few months ago, I finally had the opportunity to actually meet Stinky for the first time, after years of exchanging emails and texts.  I spent a weekend in the Big Apple, and he emerged from an undisclosed location (I'm sworn to secrecy) to meet up for a day of record shopping and trading stories.  It was no surprise that he is kind, generous and very funny in person, just as he is on the internet.  It was cool to ride around with him, listening to his homemade CD-R's on the car stereo (just like I do) while recounting music trivia (just like I do) and brainstorming ideas for compilations like this one.  

It's great to have Koen with us now (at least virtually, if not in person) to share ideas and our mutual musical enthusiasms.  Each of us has his own tastes and perspectives, but all three of us enjoy the comments that readers post.  We hope you like today's compilation, and please share other songs that fit this name-dropping theme!