David Peel & the Lower East Side - Happy Mother's Day II

Happy Mother's Day all you Mutha's!!!

David Peel & the Lower East Side - Happy Mother's Day

Four Finks - Wiki Wiki Woo - Hello Sucker

Couple of garage novelty garage surf type rockers today by the Four Finks on the Antler label, Antler 4024, out of Las Vegas, Nevada. Kewl stuff Daddy-O!!!

Drinking love juice and getting kinda HIGH!!!

Four Finks - Wiki Wiki Woo
Four Finks - Hello Sucker

Billy Lee Riley - Family Portrait - Going Back To Memphis

A man most famous for his early Sun singles but obviously had a very long career, here are a couple of rockin' soul (yep, i said soul, check it) from the late 60', 1968 to be exact. Pretty cool stuff from a guy that is really known as a rockabilly cat. These tunes could almost pass for straight soul cuts...

Born in Pocahontas, Arkansas, the son of a sharecropper, Riley learned to play guitar from black farm workers. After 4 years in the Army, Riley first recorded in Memphis, Tennessee in 1955 before being lured to Sun Studios by Sam Phillips. He recorded "Trouble Bound" for Jack Clement and Slim Wallace. Sam Phillips obtained the rights and he released "Trouble Bound" b/w "Rock With Me Baby" on September 1, 1956 (Sun 245). His first hit was "Flyin' Saucers Rock and Roll" b/w "I Want You Baby" released February 23, 1957 (Sun 260) with backing piano by Jerry Lee Lewis, after which he recorded "Red Hot" b/w "Pearly Lee" released September 30, 1957 (Sun 277).
"Red Hot" was showing a lot of promise as a big hit record, but Sam Phillips pulled the promotion and switched it to "Great Balls Of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis. The record was pulled without a lot of sales. He had other Sun recordings and they, likewise, did not have a lot of sales as his promotion had stopped.
Considered good looking and with wild stage moves, Riley had a brief solo career with his backing band "The Little Green Men". Riley and his Little Green Men were the main Sun studio band. They were Riley, Roland Janes, J.M. Van Eaton, Marvin Pepper, and Jimmy Wilson, later joined by Martin Willis.
In 1960, he left Sun, and started Rita Record label with Roland Janes. They produced the national hit record "Mountain Of Love" by Harold Dorman. He later started two other labels Nita and Mojo.
In 1962, he moved to Los Angeles and worked as a session musician with Dean Martin, the Beach Boys, Herb Alpert, Sammy Davis Jr. and others, as well as recording under various aliases.
In the early seventies, Riley quit music to return to Arkansas to begin his own construction business. In 1978 "Red Hot" and "Flyin' Saucers Rock 'n' Roll" were covered by Robert Gordon and Link Wray, which led to a one-off performance in Memphis in 1979, the success of which led to further recording at Sun Studio and a full-time return to performing.
Rediscovered by Bob Dylan in 1992, who had been a fan since 1956, Riley played rock and roll, blues and country-blues.
His album Hot Damn! (Capricorn, 1997) was nominated for the Grammy.
He was injured falling on a slippery department store floor in 2005, requiring two surgeries as a result. In 2006, he released a country CD, Hillbilly Rockin' Man.
The Rockabilly Hall of Fame reported in summer 2009 that Riley was in poor health, battling stage 4 colon cancer, which caused his death on August 2, 2009 in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Billy Lee Riley - Family Portrait
Billy Lee Riley - Going Back To Memphis

Eyes Of Blue - Yesterday

Today we get a cool and crazy jazzy progy take on the Beatles Yesterday by Eyes of Blue. Here is the straight dope...

The Eyes Of Blue evolved during the mid-sixties from covers and R&B band The Mustangs, based in Neath. The early line-up consisted of Wyndham Rees (Vocals), Ray Williams (Guitar), Ritchie Francis (Bass), Melvyn Davies (Guitar) and David Thomas (Drums). Thomas had replaced Byron Phillips in October 1964 a month before the change of name, and before too long Melvyn Davies also decided to leave, reducing the Eyes to a four-piece. Starting out as a soul-based R&B band the Eyes quickly established a strong reputation in the South Wales music scene. They played the same circuit as many other familar groups, The Bystanders, The Jets, and took in gigs in Llanelli, Swansea, Skewen, Cardiff and Neath, winning a few local talent competitions on the way. Early in 1966 drummer Thomas was off and away, and John Weathers was drafted in as a temporary replacement. From another Neath based band - the Smokestacks - came keyboard player Phil Ryan, and vocalist Gary Pickford-Hopkins.

By May that year the band were ready to turn professional. During the late spring and summer of '66 Eyes Of Blue entered and won the national Melody Maker 'Beat Contest', which offered the chance of a one year Decca recording contract. This turned out to be something of a poisoned chalice as none of the tracks recorded for Decca were representative.

Once the Decca contract had expired the band signed with the Mercury label, and during March to July 1968 recorded their first album across a number of sessions in Chappell Studios, London. Later that year the Eyes backed american singer-songwriter Buzzy Linhart on his album 'Buzzy' released on the Phillips label. When some critics suggested that this could be a more productive route an angry Ritchie Francis responded; "We will not be called a backing group for anyone"

The Eyes debut album 'Crossroads Of Time' was eventually released early in 1969. It included two Graham Bond R&B songs (Bond also wrote the sleevenotes) 'Love Is The Law' and 'Crossroads Of Time' which was especially written for the band. It also included an interesting version of Love's '7 + 7 Is' while The Beatles' 'Yesterday' is given a treatment suggesting something of a jazz hymn.
http://www.manband-archive.com/evolution/history-roots-eyes-of-blue.php

Eyes Of Blue - Yesterday

Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs - That I Love

Another one from 1964 today from Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs.

Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs were an Australian pop and rock group dating from the mid-sixties. The group enjoyed huge success in the mid-1960s, but split in 1967. They re-emerged in the early seventies to become one of the most popular Australian hard-rock bands of the period. Thorpe died from a heart attack in Sydney on 28 February 2007.

Originally a four-piece instrumental group who had put out one surfing instrumental, "Smoke & Stack", they formed in Sydney in 1963. With the advent of the Merseybeat sound, they added a lead singer, Billy Thorpe. His powerful voice and showmanship (which made him one of the most popular and respected rock performers in Australian music), completed the original line-up, which consisted of drummer Col Baigent, bassist John "Bluey" Watson and guitarists Valentine Jones and Vince Maloney (who later played with The Bee Gees).Valentine Jones left the band shortly after Billy Thorpe had joined and was later replaced by Tony Barber.

The flip is a horrible rendition of over the rainbow.... but this is pretty keen with its garage pop shit vibe....

Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs - That I Love

The Cobras - La La (Hey Baby)

Not much to say these days... Enjoy some Philadelphia doo-wop from 1964 from The Cobras on the label that the Beatles made famous, Swan...

And remember, DON'T DROP OUT! (or do, i don't really care)

The Cobras - La La (Hey Baby)

The Feelers - Fuhrers New Miniskirt

The Feelers - Fuhrers New Miniskirt

Marching Plague - Rock 'N' Roll Asshole E.P. - 1983

Going to stick with the hardcore punk and give you the rock and roll asshole EP from Marching Plague. This is also from 1983 and like the Child Abuse 7inch below is a fast blast of goofy sloppy snotty punk/hardcore. These guys were from Texas. And this has one of my fave punk rock album covers. Awesome....

Marching Plague - Rock 'N' Roll Asshole E.P. - 1983

Child Abuse - Bring It - Mutha 014 - 1983

Here is another from the Mutha files. From 1983 and New Jersey's Child Abuse. This one was just recently added to my quest to collect the entire Mutha catalog. I just happened upon an old NJ musician/store owner that has boxes of old unused stock of some Mutha releases and not having this one it was a welcome addition and at nice price. Anyone have the Burnt 7 inch???
The claim to fame with with one is the fact that the drummer was a mere 12 years old at the time of the recording of this 7 inch. It's no Mental Abuse or Chronic Sick but this an enjoyable quick sloppy mess of a punk/hardcore record and very indicative of the times being had in Jersey back then...
Enjoy a nice little slice of NJHC from 83 and a record that i guess is getting more rare all the time...

Child Abuse - Bring It - Mutha 014 - 1983

The Camel Drivers - Sunday Morning 6 O'Clock - Give It A Try

More garagey pop 60's style tunage w/ a slight psych bend: with the camel drivers: you can read an interview with the drummer Here; i found it on another blog. Sunday Morning 6 O'Clock has the kind of Brit Pop sound that sounds as if it could have been on the 1st Bee Gee's record. (Yeah i know they were from Down Under but by way of England) While Give It A Try is a bit Brighter sounding with some uptempo horns that gives is a little more pop sound. Either way 2 pretty good songs... i guess these guys were from Michigan and had done some traveling / touring to the asbury Park, NJ area according to the interview above, which may explain how this platter found its way into may grubby little hands, if that matters to you...???

The Camel Drivers - Sunday Morning 6 O'Clock
The Camel Drivers - Give It A Try

The Springfield Rifle - Left Of Nowhere

Some good Pacific North West pop psych from 1968 on the Jerden label...

Cool tune. Wish i knew more about the group but if you want to know about the actual gun just google...



The Springfield Rifle - Left Of Nowhere

The Night Hawks - Rockin' Hawk

What we have here is a great guitar instrumental from 1962.... Nice stinging guitar work and some almost creepy organ that sounds a bit like maybe Johnny and the Hurricanes type stuff but way more odd and creepy sounding. This almost has a Halloween novelty type vibe. Man I love this shit but sadly i can't out much about this great groovy rocker... Anyone???

The Night Hawks - Rockin' Hawk

Mighty Sphincter - The New Manson Family

MIGHTY SPHINCTER - THE NEW MANSON FAMILY PRODUCED BY ALICE COOPER = THE BEST GOTH PUNK ALBUM YOU NEVER HEARD!!!

I'm not much of a Goth punk guy, but i dig this album. Killer guitar work and a real creepy vibe throughout.

The long awaited second coming. An intense interplay of bass, guitar and drums which comes together with the strength and precision of a Spiders Web. Originally available only by perception but now this record can be had by anyone with the balls and the bucks. A tribute to the spirituality of violence and required listening for anyone who aspires to grandeur. Produced by Alice Cooper.”
- from The Placebo Catalog

Member Doug Clark had this to say:

The idea to form Mighty Sphincter was solely my idea and here's how it happened. Around 1980 I was working at a drag bar and the idea of forming a band that used aspects of drag mixed with my fascination with monster movies and characters seemed like a perfectly acceptable reason to start a band. I brought some of my friends like Joe and Greg into the fold and we started practicing immediately, just in time to open for the Feederz who I had played with before. I brought Ron Reckless into the band because we wanted to make fun of all the incredibly annoying hardcore bands that started touring all over the country. It had become so that the emphasis wasn't on presentation or content of the bands or their songs of the time, but just on how fast you could play. So we started playing with all these crappy hardcore bands in order to make fun of them and to show that we knew how to play. Actually Mighty Sphincter was started to make fun of the entire punk scene in general, I mean if you look at the lyrics of every song on the first two albums, it's just that apparent. "Impetigo" was actually a song that made fun of one of the local girls who had to be "punk rock" and had gotten impetigo from a homemade piercing. Anyways, making fun of the entire punk scene worked. All of the band has always focused on making fun of everything, even ourselves. Christians, gays, punk rockers... Nothing was sacred when it came to being made fun of and we took every opportunity to do so, and still do.”

Familys back together again, spreading blood and sin
We got more drugs, we got more guns and this time we’ve won
Will take your daughters in the night, Will teach em’ to fuck
Will teach em’ to kill, with drugs in their heads and knives in their hands
Will send them out with charlies plan!
Kill kill the pigs kill cut out their eyes
Kill kill the pigs, kill rip off their ears…

(PS - Alice Cooper did NOT actually produce this album as stated on the back but in 1986 when i bought it that was a HUGE selling point with me. Either way this is an odd slice of Horror Goth Punk or Whatever you want to call it.... Placebo records always put out some weird shit and this is no fucking different!

Mighty Sphincter - The New Manson Family

Tuff Darts - All For The Love Of Rock 'N' Roll

Breaking away from the cover scene for a moment today we have some Tuff Darts.
Tuff Darts were an American Punk Rock Band. The band reached their greatest fame in the 1970s with such songs as (Your Love Is Like) Nuclear Waste and their biggest hit single, All For The Love of Rock and Roll. The band appeared at popular New York City clubs like Max's Kansas City and CBGB and had only released one album, 1978's Tuff Darts!, produced by Bob Clearmountain and Tony Bongiovi, released by Sire Records; before breaking up a short time later.

Having played in bands since the early 80's, i know a little about what these guys are talking about. when they sing "i don't care about the money, i aint seen none." Truer words were never spoken. So it IS all for the love of Rock and Roll!!!


This is from the Live at CBGB's album on Atlantic records of all labels and from 1976. And imho this is just a GREAT Rock and Roll song from oft overlooked band. And even thouh this has its punk pub rock leanings, this is a Rock and Roll song. I suspect that a few of these guy had mustaches and were playing cover songs of Freebird a few years earlier but they got it right with this one!

It IS All For The Love Of Rock 'N' Roll i do what i do and have been doing for a very long time!

Enjoy!
Tuff Darts - All For The Love Of Rock 'N' Roll

Junior Waters - My Life Is A Seven

OH HOW LUCKY JUNIOR HERE IS!

HIS LIFE IS A 7!!! (Mine usually hovers well below the Mendoza line)

Junior Waters - My Life Is A Seven

The Pinch - Look Again - Fun City - Meeting You - Up In Stitches -

New wave from the Toms River NJ area. When i was a young rocker and this record came out is was not my thing at all. But the bass player for the Pinch Gary Shaffer owned a records store not far from my house on Rt. 37 in Toms River and i would go there and scour his used record bins for any rock records i could get my hands on. I remember buying the first 4 or 5 Think Lizzy records and the first 2 Alice Cooper records on Straight there. The shop was more of a punk & new wave place but Gary was always cool with me and in a time before the internet, would look up import records out of a book and order them for me. Took ages, but i got them. I think maybe Tigers of Pan Tang & Holocaust Night Comers were ordered there. So this one goes out to Gary Shaffer wherever you may be. Who unknowingly helped shape my teenage mind with Rock music! The Pinch - Meeting You (Full EP)

The Myrol Brothers - If I Fell

Happy April fools day peoples, not sure if this record came out on April 1st but the jokes on you with this one... But maybe somebody will have some use for it....? It is after all a Beatles cover.... Beatles fans how do you feel about this? What do expect from brothers from Canada....??? I'm not sure what to make of it...

The Myrol Brothers - If I Fell

Fats Domino - Lady Madonna

OK, nothing really needs to said about Mr. Domino here. And this cover isn't even that off the mark from the original but hey, this is Fats Domino! a god damned legend doing a song by other legends.... this is from 1968 and most definitely worth a listen even if this record has seen better days... but hey, a few clicks and pops never hurt anyone right?

Paul McCartney reportedly wrote the Beatles song "Lady Madonna" in an emulation of Domino's style, combining it with a nod to Humphrey Lyttelton's 1956 hit "Bad Penny Blues", a record which Joe Meek had engineered. Domino did manage to return to the "Hot 100" charts one final time in 1968—with his own recording of "Lady Madonna". That recording, as well as covers of two other Beatles songs, appeared on this Reprise LP Fats Is Back, produced by Richard Perry and recorded by a band which included New Orleans piano player James Booker. Mr. Booker playing keys on this track. Domino played piano only on one track, "I'm Ready".


Fats Domino - Lady Madonna

Betty Reilly - The Saga of Elvis Presley

A novelty cover song of another classic. Stranded in the Jungle by the Jayhawks latter done by The Cadets who had the hit with it. I bought this record not knowing anything about it or that this song was kind of a cover of the great stranded in the jungle. But for a few bucks and a song title called "the saga of Elvis Presley" how could i NOT take a chance. And while this sin't the greatest thing since sliced bread it has a certain limited charm.

Betty Reilly - The Saga of Elvis Presley

Tom Rush - Drop Down Mama

Going to keep going with the cover versions here with a cover of one of my all time fave blues tunes, drop down mama from Sleepy John Estes. Mr. Tom Rush does a country rock version with a vocal somewhat reminiscent of Dylan. If you know the original you'll know this is pretty different from the OG tune. If you don't you should enjoy this none the less but you should however run out immediately and find the Sleepy John Estes version post haste.... As for Tom Rush:

Rush was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. His father was a teacher at St. Paul's School, in Concord, New Hampshire. Tom began performing in 1961 while studying at Harvard University. He majored in English literature. Many of his early recordings are versions of Lowland Scots and Appalachian folk songs. He regularly performed at the Club 47 coffeehouse (now called Club Passim) in Cambridge and the Unicorn in Boston.
Rush is credited by Rolling Stone magazine with ushering in the era of the singer/songwriter. In addition to performing his own compositions, he covered songs by Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Murray McLauchlan, David Wiffen and William Hawkins, helping them to gain recognition early in their careers.
.

Tom Rush - Drop Down Mama

Mike Auldridge - Walk Don't Run

Keeping with my previous post about slightly odd cover songs that veer from the true blue path here is something you don't hear everyday, a blue grass version of a stone cold classic, Walk Don't Run by The Ventures as done by A Mr. Mike Auldridge from the album called Blues and Blue Grass from 1974 on the Takoma label. I'm not much of a blue grass fan but this song is really pretty killer. They playing on it is pretty sensational. And if there is one thing i love it is a great cover song of a classic done in a totally different style that works. And this one to my ears works just fine.

Mr. Auldridge was born 30 December 1938, Washington, D.C. is widely acknowledged as a premier resophonic guitar (the instrument formerly referred to as a Dobro) player. He played with The Seldom Scene for many years, creating a fusion of bluegrass with jazz, folk and rock. Mr. Auldridge also has his hand in selling his signature model of Dobro guitars for Beard guitars these days

Cheers,
dd

Mike Auldridge - Walk Don't Run