A History of Violins (1973-1979)

Recent listening to British  proto-punk bands spurred an interest in British rock violinists of that era.

Jean-Paul Crocker was an original member of Cockney Rebel, and played on the first two albums (1973’s Human Menagerie and 1974’s Psychomodo).  Crocker and the rest of the band quit after a dispute over songwriting, and Steve Harley formed a new group to back him.  (Harley died in March of this year.)

After Eno left Roxy Music, Eddie Jobson joined on keyboards and violin, appearing on Stranded (1973) through Viva! (1976).  Jobson then helped form UK, launched a solo career, played with Zappa and more.

Billy Currie played violin and keyboards in Ultravox, beginning with the three 77-78 albums of the John Foxx era.  Currie also worked with Visage and Gary Numan.

Simon House played keyboards and violin with Hawkwind from 1974 (Hall Of The Mountain Grill) through 1979 (PXR5).  You can hear him on "She Blinded Me With Science", Tin Drum, Bowie's Stage and Lodger.  The Quietus points out that Simon plays a "snaking Arabic melody" on Lodger's "Yassassin" that is similar to his performance on Hawkwind's "Hassan-i Sabbah".

Urban Blitz (aka Geoff Hickman) was a member of Doctors of Madness (an undersung but influential British pre-punk band).  They made their three studio albums (1976-1978).  Urban Blitz played lead guitar and violin, and he treated his violin with effects including distortion, wah-wah, phaser, and reverb. He later became a designer of violins. (Urban Blitz and Doctors Of Madness vocalist Richard Strange are pictured above.) 

Bobby Valentino played violin and mandolin with the Fabulous Poodles (who were new wave via pub rock). Bobby was known to play violin with a talk box as well as other effects.  He has enjoyed a prolific career as a solo artist and in the band Los Pistoleros (with Martin Belmont and BJ Cole). He's done studio and live work with artists ranging from Mad Professor to Mark Knopfler. You can hear Bobby on the one hit wonder "Shiny Shiny"!

I didn't find any decent American rock bands with a violinist in the 70's -- it was an instrument consigned to hippies, jazzbos and rednecks. Beginning in the 80's, the violin was reclaimed by Tuxedomoon, Woundz, Tupelo Chain Sex, Gogol Bordello, the Geraldine Fibbers, Lisa Germano and today's young sensations the Callous Daoboys.

PREVIOUSLY ON JONDERBLOG: our exhaustive survey of Talk Box rock, funk and hip hop!

It's A Funky World, Volume 2: Things

Another trip down the digital rabbit hole, as expected while searching for funky places turned up related things... Literally too as Larry Ellis and the Black Hammer did exactly that, spread across both sides of a 45!

Fela Ransome Kuti and his Nigeria 70 (or Africa 70) laid down some wicked instrumental afrobeat courtesy of his horn in LA during the late 1960s. Related to that is KC & The Sunshine Band with their “Sound Your Funky Horn” from 1973.

I knew J. Geils Band did “The Funky Judge”, but I wasn’t familiar with the 1968 original by Bull & The Matadors.  No collection should be without Lee Dorsey’s “Everything I Do Gonh Be Funky (From Now On)” from 1969. 

Not all the tracks here come from a distant and often obscure past as Tone-Lōc proves with his hilarious “Funky Cold Medina” from 1989. We got some heavy jazz-funk too, courtesy of Melvin Jackson with his double blast called “Funky Skull Pt. 1 & 2”. Modern sounds come from Nickodemus with some assistance from Jay Rodriguez & Ticklah, showing that the middle place can be quite cool.

In early 1970 a new dance craze hit the charts thanks to Rufus Thomas’ “Do The Funky Chicken”.  In 1970 Bo Diddley became The Black Gladiator and among others recorded “Funky Fly”.

I never realized that it’s possible to smell funky music, but according to Eric Mercury that’s the case… Another genre is country funk, here represented by Cherokee’s “Funky Business”.

A completely unknown artist to me was Zeph Allen who turned in a groovy “Funky Revolution”.  The same story regarding Moon Taxi, but I was pleasantly surprised by their “Funky Respiration”.

The most recent track comes from Cuban-born pianist/composer Harold López-Nussa with a hard-driving Latin jazz dance track, called (no surprise!) “Funky”, from his Timba a la Americana album, released last year.  Enough scribbling, there are plenty of other tracks (20 in fact), just play this damn collection and enjoy!

The Best of the Detroit Cobras

 

Welcome to CLEAR THE DECKS WEEK!  Stinky and Koen have been sending in some great stuff, and this week we're going to see (and hear) a lot of new posts.  There will be a new post every day this week -- maybe longer -- until we get caught up on this backlog of musical goodness!

The Detroit Cobras was a garage rock band with a revolving lineup centered around singer Rachel Nagy (left) and guitarist Mary Ramirez (right).  The band existed from 1994 until Rachel's death in 2022.

The Detroit Cobras released four albums, consisting almost entirely of cover songs from the 1950's and 1960's (with the exception of an original composition called "Hot Dog").  Their music encompassed influences that included blues, rockabilly, R&B, soul and girl groups.  Their talent lay in making all of these songs sound like their own.  If you've heard their music, you know.  If you haven't, you're in for a treat.

Stinky has personally selected 32 of the finest tracks from the Cobras' catalog.  He writes, "I had the extreme pleasure of seeing them live in NYC, which drove home that LIVE was how they made their legend.  They were AMAZING.  The list of female rockers who look and sound the part as much as Rachel Nagy did is pretty short: Ronnie Spector, Tina Turner, & Amy Winehouse."  Let's add Pearl Harbour to that list.

I got to see the Detroit Cobras perform live myself (while Greg Cartwright was in the band).  It was a fabulous evening, especially when they kicked into their version of Mickey Lee Lane's "Hey Sah-Lo-Ney" (which the Cobras called "Hey Sailor").

PREVIOUSLY ON JONDERBLOG:  Stinky's compilations of the best of Ronnie Spector (who also passed away in 2022).  

 

It's A Funky World, Volume 1: Places

Koen writes: I guess it all started when I heard Toots & The Maytals’ “Funky Kingston” for the first time, it made a lasting impression, still one of my favorite songs.  Last month I finally heard the Jamaican version of Funky, which wasn’t that different from the Island/Mango one released for the international market.

In a review on Pitchfork I discovered that Island’s Chris Blackwell decided to release it after noticing the crossover success of “Funky Nassau” (1971) by Bahamas-based band The Beginning of the End… As I wasn’t familiar with that particular song, I checked it out on YouTube, cool, even with a part 1 & 2!

By now I was starting to wonder how many other funky musical places there might be and the first one I could think of was “Funky Broadway Part 1 & 2” by Dyke And The Blazers. After that it became a trip down the rabbit hole, the internet can be a dangerous place!

A fun discovery was an answer song by Bobby Patterson & The Mustangs called “Broadway Ain't Funky No More”! Coming from the Netherlands I shouldn’t have been surprised by Big John Russell’s “Funky Amsterdam”, but I don’t recall ever hearing it on the radio in 1975.  Similarly, I discovered a “Bangkok Funky” as well, which seemed very fitting as I have been living in Thailand since 1987.

“Funky Town” was of course a big disco hit for Lipps, Inc., but I opted for the heavier 1986 version by Pseudo Echo! This collection takes you all over the planet, from Africa to Texas, and ending on The Funkie Moon!

Rock, Rock, Rock and Ride, Ride, Ride

This wasn't intended to be a series, but happily it became one.  Berni, Richard, SteVe, One Buck Guy and Crab Devil caught the bug and have been sharing excellent examples of what might be called "triple word score" song titles.  Once you start noticing them, it's hard to stop!

I would venture to say that we are now among the world's leading experts on this musical phenomenon. However, there may be readers who don't share this obsession, and I don't want it to dominate the blog, so these collections will continue to alternate with other posts from the usual gang of idiots (Koen, Stinky and yrs truly).  Richard is on deck with a bumper crop of triples, but for today...  

Crab Devil recently commented that "there must surely be 20-plus songs (from the 1950s and early 1960s alone) with the title 'Rock Rock Rock'," but I had only found a few.  

One was cowritten by Glen Moore and Milton Subotsky, the same guys who wrote "Rock Therapy" and "Lonesome Train (On A Lonesome Track)".  Another was composed by Peppermint Harris (who wrote "Raining In My Heart" and "I Got Loaded"). It was recorded by Amos Milburn. A third was written and recorded by Richard Berry (author of "Louie Louie" and "Have Love, Will Travel").  I found a fourth on a 1962 single by The Blue Jays (a quartet from LA). 

Crab Devil reports that "The most famous rendition of the Moore-Subotsky song would have to be that by Jimmy Cavello and His House Rockers, a recording featured prominently in the 1956 film titled, um, Rock Rock Rock. For some reason, the Brits of the period seem to have gone nuts over that song, which was covered in (presumably) rapid succession by Art Baxter, Don Lang, Shorty Mitchell, and Tony Crombie."

The announcer who introduces Lee Young (with Woolf Phillips And His Skyrockets) calls their "Rock Rock Rock" (1953) "Britain's first-ever rock song." Crab Devil also discovered "a wildass acoustic rockabilly thrashout obscuro" demo from 1956 by Eddie McCall, and a 1959 single by Max Alexander and the Hi-Fi Combo which "happens to be identical to a 1971 release (or I suppose reissue) attributed to Joe Gene and the Cordells and titled 'Rock Everybody Rock'." (Both singles have the same song on the flip side, "Little Rome".)

An R&B group from Philly called The Big Boys The Big Boys released a 1955 single called "Rock-Rock-Rock-A-Bye Baby", and the b-side of Dusty Boyd & The Rockers' 1958 single is called "Rock, Rock, Rocket Ship".  Crab Devil praises its "garage-caliber rock 'n' roll with trashcan drumming, echo-laden guitar, overwrought hillbilly vocals, and mystifying space-age lyrics." 

Another "Rock Rock Rock" b-side is from a 1963 single by The Dixiebelles. It was written by Bill Justis, and includes the immortal couplet, "Yeah, rock rock rock! / Yeah, put it in your sock!" Crab Devil and I found a few more from later decades to fill out this set.
 

Meanwhile, I discovered that the most common "triple word score" song title isn't "Rock, Rock, Rock" -- it's "Ride, Ride, Ride"!  Today's second share includes almost two dozen songs of that title, each by a different songwriter, with the exception of PRE's cover of Half Japanese.  John Zorn sits in with Half Japanese on the original -- and he blows, blows, blows!

Papa John Phillips wrote a "Ride Ride Ride" for his early 60's combo The Smoothies, and Jeff Barry wrote one for The Archies.  Lynn Anderson's momma wrote one for Lynn to sing (I prefer Sleepy LaBeef's version).  Bob Crewe cowrote one for The Eleventh Hour (a studio group that also recorded the first version of "Lady Marmalade").  There's even a "Ride Ride Ride" by a Scientology swing band. Put that in your sock.

The Blue Note Cover Series (by request!)

One day in 1997 I did my usual thing [sez Koen], dropping by Tower Records in Bangkok, and going straight for one of their listening stations. There to my pleasant surprise, I found the Charlie Hunter Quartet’s Natty Dread. 

I listened to a few tracks and knew right away this was not just another Bob Marley cover album, it was so much more! Therefore, the decision to buy it on the spot was easily made.

For whatever reason I wasn’t aware of the other two albums in this new Blue Note series, Fareed Haque’s Déjà Vu and Everette Harp’s What's Going On, nor the ones that followed in 1998...

By now I’ve listened to all six albums in this series and still consider Charlie’s the best, closely followed by Fareed Haque's CSNY cover album, Bob Belden (Tapestry), and George Howard (There's A Riot Goin' On). 

Ronnie Laws’ Portrait Of The Isley Brothers (Harvest For The World) and Everette Harp's What's Going On are dangerously close to smooth elevator jazz, but each still has a few acceptable tracks.

In 1997 Blue Note issued a promo sampler with three songs each from Charlie, Everette, and Fareed. There was no follow-up, which gave us here at JOKONKY another project -- to add three tracks from each of the three 1998 releases in the Blue Note Cover Series!

PREVIOUSLY ON JONDERBLOG: if you like this post, check out Koen's excellent overview of Nonesuch Records' American Explorer Series, as well as Koen's more recent compilation, Blue Note Funk: Steady Groovin!

Who Are THESE Clowns?

Clowntime ain't over yet, friends -- Stinky's back, this time with songs that mention clowns (either in the title or the lyrics. Clowns abound in these 26 tracks: circus clowns, rodeo clowns, and the clown who laughs on the outside and cries on the inside. That's the clown we know from all those broken hearted ballads.   

Stinky has assembled a cornucopia of clown songs: country songs, pop songs, Motown, jazz and punk songs.  It's a master class from the clown college of musical knowledge. 

Hey, you guys forgot "Get Out Of My Dreams, Get In My Clown Car"! And what about "Will I See You Tonight On A Clowntown Train"?  Lest you think your favorite clown song has been neglected, hold tight and remember that there's at least one more volume to come.  And if that's not enough, we'll open the request lines for the rest of you clowns.

Eurovision: Only Mr. Koen Knows Why

This is a sad moment in the history of Jonderblog [writes Koen, our far-flung correspondent]. For the first time since March 5, 2018, we must start a post with a disclaimer!

WARNING: although the article is outrageously funny, the music isn’t! Therefore, we strongly advise you NOT to download the music or click on the YouTube links. If you still insist on doing so, prepare yourself with a large bucket and a lot of tranquilizers before listening to any of the tunes or watching the videos. Once you have puked your guts out, you’ll need the meds to recover a bit, although the damage is already done: you have opened an aural and visual Lovecraftian Pandora’s Box…

Earlier this year, the 68th Eurovision Song Contest was held in Malmö, something which I normally would ignore if it hadn’t been for the controversy around the disqualification of the Dutch candidate Joost Klein… His song ‘Europapa’ was considered a potential winner, and I made the huge mistake of actually checking it out.

After watching with open mouth for about 10 seconds I wanted to smash my desktop to pieces… Too late, its lyrics are still causing me massive headaches:

Europe, let's come together (Euro-pa-pa, Euro-pa-pa)

It's now or never, I love you all (Euro-pa-pa, Euro-pa-pa)

(Welcome to Europe, stay here until I die)

Welkom in Europa, blijf hier tot ik doodga, Europa-pa, Europa-pa

(Visit my friends in France or run to Vienna)

Bezoek m'n friends in France of neem de benen naar Wenen

(I want to leave the Netherlands, but my passport has disappeared)

Ik wil weg uit Netherlands, maar m'n paspoort is verdwenen (Etc.)

Painful indeed, but it did trigger some dusty memories of the late 60s and early 70s when the whole family was clustered around the (black & white!) television faithfully watching each year’s contest. And even when we considered the Dutch candidate awful, we would still secretly root for him/her/them, blame it on misguided nationalism!

Probably as a result I got so severely traumatized that I live now on the other side of the world… [And has your passport disappeared? -- jonder]

Anyway, I managed to forget (more or less) about the Europapa travesty until last week… The New Yorker reposted a 2010 article written by Anthony Lane about Eurovision’s origins and wacky songs/performers, which had me in stitches.

In a moment of madness, I decided to share it with Jonder and Stinky and mentioned that ‘perhaps it would be fun to add the music to this article for a new post, but then we will be sued to death’. To my horror both of them thought it was a great idea and the result you are reading now...

I still consider this a crime against humanity, but I’m giving you a choice! You can either download the PDF article + an additional PDF listing all 58 songs with YouTube links, in order to 'enjoy' the visuals, or...

Download all 39 songs from the 2010 Contest, a double CD in fact.  Of course you’re free to download both, but you might as well slash your wrists right now…

P.S. Strangely enough an old Jona Lewie song (Hallelujah Europa from 1975) should have been submitted by the United Kingdom, but as far as I know nobody ever even thought about it.

Music Music Music

Heavens to Murgatroyd, it's that theme again!  You know the one.  Here's another fifty tracks of music, music, music!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Berni, Crab Devil, MrDave, One Buck Guy, steVe and Richard (whose suggestion gives today's first comp its title) for all their contributions!

Berni made the most suggestions, including Joel Plaskett, whose triple album Three includes a dozen songs that earn a triple-word score. Plaskett followed that with a quadruple album.  Oh, Canada -- a nation of inveterate showoffs who never know when to shut up.  

One Buck Guy made some great suggestions as well, including several Doppelnamers: two different songs called "Tora Tora Tora" and one called "Hi Hi Hi" that wasn't written by Paul McCartney.  Be sure to check out the One Buck Blog for tons of great music and discussion.  And don't miss Berni's mix of live Calexico tracks over at the C90 Lounge!

Speaking of blogs, this is the 300th post on this one here, which might be more impressive if it hadn't taken six years to accomplish.  Couldn't have done it without my unindicted co-conspirators, Stinky and Koen (who has a blog of his oen)!  Just remember: we may not work fast here at Jonderblog, but we do a lousy job!

And it wouldn't have been worth doing without you readers and your comments.  We truly appreciate knowing that you like the music shared here, and thanks to everyone who has suggested and shared great music in return.  I wouldn't have known about Joel Plaskett or Anna Hillburg without Readers Like You.  

Are these the last installments in this series?  Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. Berni just sent in another half dozen songs, so who knows?  I realize that the novelty has worn off, but there's a wide variety of music to enjoy here, from blues, swing and rockabilly (lots of rockabilly) to hard rock, ska and hip hop. Music Music Music starts with a lewd double entendre from 1938 (courtesy of the Light Crust Doughboys), and Shake Shake Shake ends with something equally crude from Auntie Hammy, eight decades later (hat tip to Crab Devil).  Let's put another nickel in the nickelodeon...

Who ARE These Clowns?

Not for the coulrophobic!  Stinky and I have been trading pictures for awhile of some of the rock bands and singers who have painted their faces over the years.  Some are famous, others less so.  Some had a moment in the spotlight but may have been forgotten by all but their devoted fans.  Some constructed elaborate personas with costumes, stage names, and back stories.  Others just put on clown makeup for an album cover or music video.  We'd send each other an image of one of these strange (and sometimes creepy) album covers with the caption, "Who ARE these clowns?"

One idea for a mix (shared here today) was to feature some of these singers and groups, from far back (Leon Russell, Leo Sayer, Alex Harvey, and The Hello People), far afield (Secos & Molhados), far out (Fad Gadget, Klaus Nomi), and far-fetched (Clownvis Presley, Mac Sabbath, Yeastie Boys).

As mentioned, some of them only donned greasepaint or clown masks for an album cover (Gary Lewis, Frank Sinatra, The Armed), while others have made a career out of it (Puddles Pity Party, Slipknot, various juggalos).  Oh yeah, forgot to mention: there be juggalos.

Our other idea for a mix (coming up soon) is songs about clowns.  Like-minded music fans such as yourselves will have no trouble thinking of clown songs, but hopefully we've found a few surprises.  Stick around and see for yourselves!

Blue Note Funk: Steady Groovin'

During the nineties and early noughties (Koen sez), the famous jazz label Blue Note Records added a bit more FUNK into their records.

Their reissue programs included a Lost Grooves compilation, the Rare Grooves series, and a four disc set of Blue Break Beats, which became highly popular in some of the jazz clubs.

For new recordings, veteran guitar slinger John Scofield delivered some serious funky licks.

Newcomer Charlie Hunter did a great job as well.  Whether with a Trio or Quartet, his guitar playing was cookin’.

Soulive was a grooving jazz trio with a guitarist, drummer, and Hammond organist who maintained a tight beat throughout most of their work.

Medeski, Martin & Wood (another trio) already had a few albums under their belts before joining Blue Note, where they continued developing their sense of funky grooves.

The former Greyboy Allstars frontman Karl Denson plays a mean sax producing dance-inducing, driving grooves.

The above artists recorded several albums for Blue Note (except Denson, who had only one).  Here’s a sampler to give you some idea of their work. We hope you enjoy Steady Groovin'!

ROCKPILE Swept Into A Pile

Stinky has truly outdone himself here!  ROCKPILE Swept Into A Pile is five CD-length sets of Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, Terry Williams and Billy Bremner.  "Wait a second," you might say, "There was only one Rockpile album!"  Yes and no, dear friends.  

Seconds Of Pleasure is the only studio LP credited to the band Rockpile, but all the faithful know: wherever two or three are gathered together, Rockpile will be in their midst in all but name.

And lowe! Did it not come to pass that albums were issued bearing the names of Saint Nick or Saint Dave?  But were these not the works of goodly men -- musicians all -- peaceably assembled in groups of three or four?  And didst they not together make a joyful noise, and rejoice, and sing praise?

Brothers and sisters, there's no need to further belabor the point with biblical misquotes.  What we have here is truckloads of Rockpile, in number if not in name.  Volumes 1 and 2 gather Rockpile tracks as well as "solo" recordings credited to Nick, Dave, and Billy -- sometimes singing songs the others wrote, as if the names weren't already confusing!  

Volume 3 is subtitled Plays Well With Others, and among those others are Keith Richards, Robert Plant, Bruce Springsteen, Carlene Carter, Mickey Jupp, and Elvis Costello; as well as members of Rockpile sitting in with the Stray Cats, the Refreshments, Los Straightjackets and Brinsley Schwarz!

Volume 4 is Rockpile Live in concert and on the air (although there are live tracks scattered throughout these comps), and Volume 5 contains Rockpile Rarities.  Stinky has seasoned these sets with occasional interview excerpts posing questions like, "Why did albums that were done by Rockpile come out as solo albums by Dave or Nick?" and "Who wrote 'Trouble Boys'?" and "What's so funny about peace, love and understanding?"  Not sure we get an answer to that last one...

All told, there's over 130 tracks here, and more than 6 hours of listening enjoyment.  That's nearly twenty four thousand seconds of pleasure!  Let us all praise Brother Stinky for these mighty blessings!

More More More Fun Fun Fun

 

Thanks to helpful readers like Berni, Crab Devil, One Buck Guy, steVe, and our own Koen, another set of songs was assembled to complement the first two. 

The initial goal was to compile songs to fit the theme without looking up anything online. This resulted in some significant omissions that I really should have remembered (the Beach Boys and Motley Crue, for example).

Fun, Fun, Fun includes all the great songs that readers suggested, plus some that came to me after posting the first two sets.

This time around, I allowed myself to search the internet.  I'd wonder, "Is there a song called Kill Kill Kill?" and then look it up.  Other titles seemed to summon themselves unbidden, an example of the frequency illusion. When you think about one thing, you begin to see examples of it everywhere, and you wonder if it's more than a coincidence. Reading about music nearly every day, it isn't unusual to encounter song titles that fit the theme.  One day in the comments section on Babs' blog, two titles were mentioned that fit the theme ("Jeanie Jeanie Jeanie" and "Drink Drink Drink"). 

Today's second set is called Rock, Rock, Rock.  Some song titles are present on both of these collections.  They aren't cover songs; instead, they are what Stinky calls Doppelnamers -- different songs with the same title.  There are a few cover songs here, including Therapy's version of "Gimme Gimme Gimme" (the ABBA song, not the Black Flag one).

Happy Birthday to Iggy Pop!  Other artists on today's comps that have been featured elsewhere on the blog include Willie Dixon, Mel Torme, and Barrence Whitfield & The Savages.

I Found That Purity Of Essence Rare

Koen writes: The music industry can be a weird business, plenty of stories of labels/managers who ripped off their artists and/or exploited them in other ways.

On the other hand, artists recording for different labels under different names wasn’t uncommon in the past either, e.g. John Lee Hooker had an impressive number of aliases: Birmingham Sam, Boogie John, Delta John, John Lee Cooker, Johnny Lee, Johnny Williams, Texas Slim, and The Boogie Man!

Claiming copyright of traditional songs by just changing a few words used to be standard. Some bands with the same name played live gigs on the same dates but in far-away places with different musicians!  The list could on for a long time…

In the sixties it was common that albums released in the UK would have slightly different track lists from the US versions, e.g. the first few lps of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, etc. Much later Japanese CD releases usually got 1 or 2 bonus tracks which increased their value a lot!

Lately some modern-day artists have been re-recording earlier albums for copyright reasons, e.g. Taylor Swift.  Recently, Strohmian shared a story on the Twilight Zone blog that gave all of the above a completely new twist!

Graham Parker’s old band, The Rumour (with Brinsley Schwarz!) released three albums.  The second one - 1979’s Frogs, Sprouts, Clogs And Krauts (wonderful title!) - even had a minor hit in Holland: 'Frozen Years'. 

But they never really broke through, and their 3rd album became their swan song.  The original UK release of Purity Of Essence came out on Stiff Records in 1980.  And now we are entering the Twilight Zone of recorded music…  From the liner notes by Martin Belmont:

"The Rumour recorded its third album without Graham Parker (and its first without keyboard player and singer Bob Andrews) in 1980. The title 'Purity of Essence' came from the Stanley Kubrick film 'Dr Strangelove', a band favourite on the tour bus. The album was produced by Alan Winstanley at Eden Studios in West London, and released in the UK on Stiff Records. 

"Joe Boyd wanted to release it in the States on his Hannibal imprint, but, after being unable to reach a financial agreement with Stiff, he figured it would be cheaper to re-record the entire album. We did this at Island Studios with the considerable production skills of John Wood, and that is the version on this CD.

"The two recordings differ in a couple of ways: firstly, three songs have changed from the UK set: 'All Boys Lie' - a Clive Langer composition from his days with Deaf School; 'Rubber Band Man' - a Thom Bell song that had been a massive hit for The Detroit Spinners with their wonderful singer Phillip Wynne in 1976; and 'Depression' - written by Glen Tilbrook and Chris Difford from Squeeze. These three songs were only released on the US version, and replaced 'Pyramids' 'My Little Red Book' and 'That's The Way The Ball Rolls' from the UK release. 

"The second change is that the US version has a much more energetic, confident and 'live in the studio' feel, with very few overdubs. The instrumentation is simple; mostly two guitars, bass and drums, with vocals from Brinsley, Steve and one from me. The only guest featured on the sessions is Glen Tilbrook, who added the organ part to 'Depression'."

Despite the availability of 2 versions of the same album and 2 singles, 'My Little Red Book' & 'I Don’t Want The Night To End' (a Nick Lowe cover!), sales didn’t improve, and the band decided to call it quits, sad but true.

The JOKONKY edition is (in essence) a double CD with 25 numbers total for your listening pleasure.  Tell us which version YOU prefer!

Get In Loser, We're Going Rockabilly (Volume 2)!

 

Stinky follows his first "Going Rockabilly" comp with another installment.  The concept (as you may recall) is rockabilly music performed by artists not usually associated with the genre.  Some are cover songs, and others are originals (like Alan Vega's jittery "Jukebox Babe").

My favorite band The Fall is here with a Gene Vincent cover, as is Ian Dury with his ode to "Sweet Gene Vincent".  The Clash, Elvis Costello and Marky Ramone are also among the Class of '77 rockabilly fans.

You might remember Stinky's stellar tribute to guitarist Joe Moretti, who played the unforgettable guitar line on "Shakin All Over".  The Who takes on that classic of early British rock.  

Eva Cassidy is another artist who has been anthologized by Stinky in these pages.  We've also featured Chuck Berry covers, and there are a few more here to add to your collection.  

Robert Johnson (our Close Personal Friend) is back, as well as Jeff Beck, Led Zep, Conway Twitty, Neil Young's Shocking Pinks and the Foghat side project Warren Phillips & The Rockets. Dana Gillespie (one of the artists who "got a leg up" from David Bowie) is here too.  

Also featured are Elton John and Harry Nilsson (before they became famous), covers of Buddy Holly by Jackie DeShannon and Graham Nash, plus versions of Rick Nelson's hit It's Late and Jimmy Long's That Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine. 

PS - does that cover model sitting on the 8 ball look a lil' bit like Pearl Harbour?  Don't forget that the expanded edition of her solo album Don't Follow Me, I'm Lost Too is available now on Bandcamp (digital, CD, and purple vinyl!)

Call Me The Wolf: Howlin' Wolf 1969-1973

Koen writes: One of the greatest blues artists from the past is probably Chester ‘Howlin’ Wolf’ Burnett, who first recorded for Sam Phillips’ SUN Records and later for Leonard & Phil’s Chess Records with amazing results. His work can be easily found in the blogosphere, including two great compilations shared by Babs and Butterboy.

But these fantastic sets focus only on his early career’s songs, up to the mid-sixties.  If you look at Amazon, it isn’t any different, countless early work compilations of sometimes dubious origin and quality, a shame really. 

In fact, there has never been an official (or unofficial!) collection of his final years’ work!  Once I realized that a new JOKONKY project was born: Call Me The Wolf 1969-1973.

In this final years' time frame, Wolf released five albums, of which The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions is probably the most well-known, it even received a Deluxe treatment as a double CD with the original album plus alternate takes! Therefore I chose only one track, but it’s the classic Red Rooster, with Wolf explaining to Eric Clapton how it’s supposed to be done!

I remember vividly the first time I heard 1969’s The Howlin' Wolf Album, and was shocked, such a different take on those famous songs. Obviously I wasn’t alone, it got very bad reviews at the time and sales sucked.  Since then it has received a kind of re-appraisal and I’ve become more open-minded too ;-)

The spooky version of Moanin’ At Midnight deserves to be heard, it’s stunning! For the full-length Back Door Man I opted for a vinyl rip as that includes the spoken intro by Wolf, until now all CD versions of this album botched that up which resulted in 20+ seconds missing!

In the nineties, two Chess collections were released: a three-disc set The Chess Box and a two-disc Ain't Gonna Be Your Dog. The first one had the hits plus some unreleased work, the second focussed on alternate takes, single-only tracks, etc. Both featured a couple of (excellent!) songs from his later career which made these perfect for inclusion here!

Message To The Young is in many ways the most different album compared to his other recordings. Responsible for this were Sonny Thompson (piano, arranger, conductor, lyrics) and Cash McCall (producer, conductor). I selected 2 tracks that give a good indication of the rest of the album.

Live And Cookin' At Alice's Revisited gives us a chance to hear Wolf in a live setting with his regular band The Wolf Gang, brilliant. The Back Door Wolf is his final album and gathered good reviews, but not many people have heard it, I think.  From those last two albums I picked 3 tracks each.