The other day our pal Trent asked "What Songs Go With What Drinks?"...well, what songs go with the next day's HANGOVER?

Last night I drank a bit too much, in too short of a time, so today...uh, yeah, hangover. It was worth it, I had fun and didn't drink so much that coffee and a healthy dose of ibuprofen can't dull the bite, but still I'm faded. With that in mind I think Pink Floyd's "Careful With That Axe, Eugene" seems to be the most proper hymn for how I'm feelin' today.

I'd be worried, and have been, when my hangover feels like "Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk" sounds.

Here is Terry Reid, a man who could take other singers' songs and just KILL 'EM TO PIECES, taking the Donovan classic ode to a young lady who is sussed on how to (ahem) draw, "Superlungs (My Supergirl)," and killing it to pieces. Uh, like some real groovy pieces!!

Yuh-huh...this version just (ahem) smokes. Also, if you're needin' more from this set, dig "Rich Kid Blues."

This ain't my first nod to Mr. Reid, natch, I posted a while back about his killin' to pieces Lorraine Ellison's "Stay With Me Baby." Oh...AND, lest we forget, he was Jimmy Page's FIRST choice for New Yardbirds/Led Zeppelin vocalist. Lord knows how much GREATER a Reid-fronted group that woulda been...

Admittedly, I've avoided the Trouble In Mind* label. I know I've said it plenty, but for my money most new...erm, nu-garage just ain't got it. There seems to be a bit of formality now in "garage rock" and I already have plenty of records from all the earlier garage go 'rounds. Anyway, sometimes I get a leetle reminder I should sometimes at least listen to some contemporary garage group's records...occationally. GAH! And leave it to a sweet friend from Portland to turn me on to Charlie & the Moonhearts, who are now known just as the Moonhearts.

So...why do I dig? Well, they sound like the good mid-'80s/'90s garage bands, kinda Bomp-ish/(pre-high energy) Estrus Records, a lotta Rip Off Records white shirt/black tie stock cliché, but with enough of a '60s SOUND to engage me. There's maybe even a bit of a Posh Boy /early Redd Cross noddin'. I somehow reckon tho' these kids weren't born prior to Born Innocent...perhaps it's an LA thing? Like, the Moonhearts ARE from Los Angeles.

Not bad...I've heard it before, for sure, but still, I like' em. Now, to grab their records...

*That Resonars record notwithstanding.

Lor-DEE, this is HEAVY! Dig Mr. Perkins rippin' his classic "Blue Suede Shoes" on the Johnny Cash Show. Him and his blue suited band gets real, real gone...and it all happens in under two minutes.

Carl Perkins is, of course, an original Sun Records label rock-a-billy/rock and/or roll star. His "Blue Suede Shoes" is rock'n'roll canon and no doubt inspiration for thousands of greaser lunkheads!! Me, I didn't own any blue suede shoes until I was in high school, but then again I was just a lunkhead.

A friend of mine, not me, I SWEAR, went on an internet date the other night. Turns out, it was quite lame. Now, I've never been on an internet date, but I hear they can be quite...unfortunate, sometimes great, perhaps, but often...just meh. Again, so I've heard! (sigh) I've never tried to internet date, BUT MY PATHOS IS NOT WHY I'M WRITING THIS POST.

So...what made his story of an unfortunate internet date interesting, or depending...sad, was how bummed he became when his date expressed zero entry level music knowledge. He makes his living as a radio DJ and at least conversational pop music knowledge matters to him, so his smile turned upside down as his date admitted she did NOT know of a man named... Lou Reed.

Crap! Uh...I don't think he chose to have a date based on her love of jamz, I didn't ask for pre-date deets, but she could'a been hella young. Really, tho', who don't know Lou Reed? I'd reckon you'd at least hear his name in passing, "Walk On The Wild Side" is still played, right? After that the conversation continued to get worse, something about the Barenaked Ladies?! Uh...with Barenaked Ladies in the mix I quit pressing for more details as he was actually kinda shaken. See, THIS kinda awkward is EXACTLY why I don't internet date—that and I'm afraid of getting stalked/murdered.

So, my question is...what music issue would/could act as a date deal-breaker, and not just via an internet date, but like, ANY date?! And how far into a relationship would it matter? What if you learned A YEAR into it your soulmate hated...SOUL?!? I got over giving a fuck a while ago, 'cause like, at my advanced age, I'm not sure if being a picky dicky about a date's musics is a luxury this grandpa can afford.

Blotto were musical nerds from Albany, NY. They seem to have come from a cheeky post-hippie...uh...thing. They were grown ups but still played smartly stupid music. They're still active, kinda-sorta, not unlike the premise behind the Tubes, " White Dopes on Punk," without the rock theater, tits, and record deal/label cash. I remember Blotto being real popular with my middle school friends, those that weren't tough long hair wannabes. Like, the boys that really dug Devo, Rush, and Blue Oyster Cult, if that's telling...

So, my fave Blotto track was always "Metalhead" for obvious I'm-in-middle-school-and-not-a-metalhead-and-I-think-your-mullet-makes-you-look-like-a-jackass reasons. In that regard, "Metalhead" is on the money. Godamn a mullet.

Continue reading »

For serious. If you have record player troubles, like, if your record skips a bunch OR skates across the grooves with a vvvvVVVVRRRRRIIIIIPPPPP, please, never-fucking-EVER tape/glue/affix your spare change to "fix" this problem. You ARE doing it wrong. Either your records are just beat copies, you might need a new stylus, or perhaps it's time to invest in a new turntable with proper anti-skate and counter weight controls.

• M. Nipz
• NEVER EVER DO THIS!! Worst anti-skate/skip solution EVER!!

If your brand-new records don't play on your turntable, and you're using this "adding weight to the headshell" method, you're gonna scrape the grooves clean of sound-producing bumps. Fail!! So, get new gear, you hear!?

Okay, sermon over, now...let's listen to the Real Kids!!

Curved Air is an English prog group which time, and much heavier groups, has seemingly washed away. Perhaps it's as their records aren't particularly rare, so...a lack of fervent record-nerd lerve? Hmmm, or maybe since their records don't contain beats? I dunno, but they, currently, have a relatively low profile. No matter, they were top-notch players. Dig this work out! Proggy as FUCK! Let's all count to FIVE!!

Their first album, Airconditioning, is their best. There are lots of cool musical collisions over-layed with sweet femme vox. It just gels. Um...there is, also, a certain forward-looking feel with singer Sonja Kristina's double-tracked vocals and the pace of the songs. Uh, like, there's an '80s feel to to this album. Seriously. I'm not quite sure why, Airconditioning was released in 1971, maybe it's an after effect my having lived through the '80s or something I indeed heard, but...there you go.

By their second record, aptly titled Second Album, "artistic differences" and lineup shifts were fracturing the group. Confused and conflicted, they seemed to slip into exploiting Sonja's voice, hopeful for pop success. Of course, that'd be fine for a pop group, but not so much for an arty rock group. Their pop hope became most apparent on their third LP, Phantasmagoria, and it's with this record Curved Air lost me. Tho' they did have one more fantastic moment, the lead track off Phantasmagoria, "Marie Antoinette" ...very much like the Jefferson Airplane!! They are currently back in action, with singer Sonja and violinist Darryl Way from the original lineup.

Does this crossover jam, "Your Love Was Strange," by the Dramatics sound a bit too much like the Temptations "Losing You," or does it just sound so MUCH LIKE THE TEMPTATIONS, like, David Ruffin's singing, 'cause I can't tell?!?

I'm not knocking it, the similarity will prolly will make me LOVE the shit out of it, but I'm a little stuck how close it comes. I think it's in the chorus...it just SWELLS! The song is a Stax/Volt production, from 1969, but sounds stock Motown. I'd guess as Motown had such a presence rivals Stax sometimes had no choice. Or, as the Dramatics WERE a Detroit group, they were hoping to cash in on Gordy's proven magic? Either way, great track!

As much as I'm loving "Your Love Was Strange" it still can't replace "All Because Of You" as my fave Dramatics song, GODAMN.

This clip of the English Kaleidoscope is from a French TV appearance. It's said to have been broadcast in color as Kaleidoscope's Peter Daltrey , in the YouTube™ comments, is quoted saying, "They complained about our frilly white shirts; too white for colour transmission." WHAT?! No idea how that would matter. However, obviously, the clip is black and white, perhaps as the archival copy? Whatever, dig THIS!

Expert lyp sync boys, hella mynd blowing!! Um, even if a bit (AHEM) wooden! I know, I know...usually ALL '60s mimed "live" performances are. Oh, TRAINSPOTTERS, the blonde girl is France Gall and Serge Gainsbourg is on the ivories!

So, here is a raging clip of Ike & Tina righteously slaying "Land of 1000 Dances." And it's proof positive why Tina was the only performer that could ever compete with James Brown. How the Ikettes' and Ms. Tina's wigs ever stayed on I'll never know; must'a been nothing less than the hand of God holding 'em down!

Oh...yeah, Easter, guess who the honorary Ikette in the bunny outfit is?! Really, I can't tell.

There are a TON of genius soul 45s on the famed Shrine label. TODAY, Eddie Daye & the Four Bars' "Guess Who Loves You" is my jam...all of 1:58 of it.

A jam I'll never own as originals rate $1500+...ugh. Eddie Daye, just happen to take the lead on this single, the group was actually known as the 4 Bars, AKA the 4 Bars Of Rhythm, Shane Hunter and the 4 Bars, the Four Bars Featuring: Melvin Butler... etc., were a long running East coast R&B harmony group with loads of record, but no hits.

I love this. In the fine tradition of "another mule is kicking in your stall" songs here is Johnny "Who's Making Love" Taylor performing "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone."

Ain't that Jody a motherfucker?

In the Marines, a "Jody" is a generalized term meaning: any man who stays home while everyone else goes to war. He gets to enjoy all the things the Marines are missing, more specifically the Marine's girlfriend back at home while the Marine is away on active duty. The reason that they're called Jody specifically dates back to black soldiers in WWII. They took a character from old blues songs named Joe the Grinder (or Joe D. Grinder) who would steal the ladies of inmates and soldiers, and clipped his name to Jody.

This clip has made the rounds this morning—rightfully so, it's quite awesome to see this gentleman, mute and bound by his aged brain, find life. It's beautiful.

This video is from Germany's Beat Club and, evidently, broadcast sometime during August 1970. LORDY...please, dig the HAIR!!

Atomic Rooster was Vincent Crane, keys, and drummer Carl Palmer from The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, Palmer had drummed on Brown's American tour. This is early Atomic Rooster, but includes guitarist number two for the group, the incendiary John DuCann (ex-Attack/Andromeda) and his fabulous hair. And yes, like the Doors, they had no bass, Crane played the bottom on his organ. In the following years, the Atomic Rooster lineup shifted and changed, as did their sound...well, KINDA, but not really, Crane was the only consistent member throughout.