IN THE MIX The Skeletons Edition Vol. 1 - with STEVE FORBERT & DAVE ALVIN!

 IN THE MIX The Skeletons Edition Vol. 1 POST

There were two contenders for the title of “World’s Greatest Bar Band” NRBQ & THE SKELETONS.  Both bands’ styles are nearly indefinable because they play a kitchen sink combination of rock, rockabilly, surf, R&B, bluegrass, & country.  And they both inserted obscure songs into their set-lists, and wrote songs about topics other bands didn’t.

THE SKELETONS had at their core bassist LOU WHITNEY and guitar whiz D. CLINTON THOMPSON.  Depending on who the other players were, they performed/recorded as THE SYMPTOMS, & THE MORELLS.  And they recorded with a staggering number of artists—only partly because LOU WHITNEY owned a recording studio in their hometown, Springfield MO.  It’s safe to say just as many artists recorded there because the members of these groups could be coerced into playing on their album.

D. CLINTON THOMPSON is as good as any stringbender you can mention, and with Lou the two have a chemistry that makes any number pop—which is proven here track after track. Both played with the more commercially successful OZARK MOUNTAIN DAREDEVILS from time to time, and Lou’s wife MARALIE WHITNEY played keys with THE SYMPTOMS, & THE MORELLS.  Drummer RON “WRONGO” GREMP beat the skins for THE SYMPTOMS, & BOBBY LLOYD HICKS rounded out THE SKELETONS, augmented by second guitarist NICK SIBLEY & keyboardist JOE TERRY (who I saw playing with DAVE ALVIN).

STEVE FORBERT gets credit for exposing them to a wider audience by hiring them to back him for the tour promoting Jackrabbit Slim which contained his biggest hit Romeo’s Tune.  On that tour, they met FORBERT’s friend JONATHAN RICHMAN (who recorded his JONATHAN PLAYS COUNTRY album at Lou’s studio).  And LOU WHITNEY was immortalized in the song Laughter Lou (Who Needs You?) on FORBERT’s follow-up release.

On this collection, there are songs that feature one or more of THE SKELETONS backing other artists.  The whole group backs RICHMAN, BOXCAR WILLIE, RUDI “TUTTI” GRAYZELL, The Del-Lords’ SCOTT KEMPNER, & SYD STRAW.  A few live tracks by the band are included on this edition of IN THE MIX.  One is a CORNELL HURD song If You Play With My Mind (You’ll Get Your Hands Dirty).  They also back HURD on The Long Goodbye.

I was given all but one of the live DAVE ALVIN tracks over 30 years ago by a dear friend who was allowed to videotape one of Dave’s shows where he was backed by THE SKELETONS.  I had to swear I wouldn’t share them all this time, but for this collection, my friend lifted the moratorium, allowing JOKONKY to share with you a rarity around these parts—tracks that are unavailable anywhere else!

On them, it’s clear to hear the affection ALVIN has for the band in his gentle ribbing that the monitors sound “Lou Whitney-ish” before having him sing Going South, or having BOBBY LLOYD HICKS sing Crazy Country Hop, the last song of his PALOMINO set.  BOBBY LLOYD HICKS and JOE TERRY probably backed Alvin the longest.

You're in for a treat, whether you listen to this collection in your den, on a high-performance stereo system, after a long day of insider trading--or in your shed, on a boom box, after mowing the back forty.  Just shy of 80 minutes of bare-bones rock & roll by THE SKELETONS!

Everybody Sings Dave Alvin

Dave Alvin has been this blog's poster boy for a few weeks now.  He must be wondering what he did wrong to deserve this infamy.  Folks around here just seem to like you, Dave.

Stinky made a nice cover image for this set of songs written by Dave Alvin but sung by The Chipmunks other performers. I bet nobody ever made a joke like that when Dave and Phil were kids.

Some of the songs are from Dave's solo career, some date back to The Blasters, and a couple were recorded by X. Some are from The Blasters' contemporaries: Los Lobos, Dwight Yoakam, and the late Country Dick Montana of the Beat Farmers. Dave appears on a few of these tunes: playing guitar, singing, maybe leaning back in the producer's chair and pushing the faders with his boot heels. 

If I had my shit together, I could have posted this in time for the 4th of July, but I prefer to mull over my ideas until they grow stale. Like a bad joke.

Dave Alvin Rides Again

 

STINKY SEZ: Thanks to all the kind folks who commented!  As promised, here are more Dave Alvin Rarities!

It’s a testament to how respected Dave Alvin was that—although he was a “newly solo” act releasing his first album—he was interviewed on the radio show InnerView.  Other acts interviewed for the show were The Kinks, Steve Miller, Heart, UFO, The Allman Brothers, Alice Cooper, Blondie, Cheap Trick, Rockpile, Van Halen, Yes, & Al Stewart (the only other solo singer/songwriter included).  

At this stage in Dave’s career he’d been the songwriter/sideman to his brother Phil in The Blasters, and got some additional cred when Shakin’ Stevens covered his composition MARIE MARIE.

This syndicated radio LP doesn’t even show up on discogs, so it’s safe to say that it’s rare. 

All of the songs are album cuts from his first solo record ROMEO’S ESCAPE, except the last cut, which is Dave playing/singing a Bill Moore song to wrap up the interview.

Included in the same file is a compilation of Dave playing Extended Live Versions of a selection of his songs from several sources.  They average 8 minutes long, which gives Dave a little more of a chance to show off his fiery guitar chops than  he usually does on record.  I love Dave’s always tasteful playing, and I'm pretty sure the piano on Out In California might be supplied by The Skeletons' keyboardist, who was playing with Dave when I saw him!

Dave Alvin Rarities

 

Stinky made this one awhile back, but he says it's got "cuts that still don't turn up on similar comps". 

Dave Alvin is a national treasure. He's played with The Blasters, The Knitters, X, The Flesh Eaters, and The Pleasure Barons (with Mojo Nixon and Country Dick Montana). Dave Alvin is on tour right this very minute with Jimmie Dale Gilmore.  And his third book comes out in September. It's called New Highway: Selected Lyrics, Poems, Prose, Essays, Eulogies and Blues. It's got stories about Merle, Buck, Bo Diddley, Ray Charles, and Frank Zappa.

He's a writer, actor, guitar slinger, songwriter, Grammy winner -- what else do you need to know? There's a couple of poems and a whole lot of music in today's share. Get you some!