Unpopular Songs For Popular People

TERRIBLY SOPHISTICATED SONGS came out in 1958 on Warner Brothers Records. It was the label’s tenth LP. The songs sound like they were written for a stage show or revue. Some of them are funny, some of them worth listening to for the music. But before you download anything, be warned that none of them come close to rocking out.

This is a strange record. It’s one of Henry Mancini’s very first records but his name isn’t even on the label. Irving Taylor, the guy that wrote the songs, had a long career as a song and script writer in Hollywood. He wrote “Everybody Loves Somebody” for Dean Martin and “Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb” for Edd Byrnes. He started out writing with the great Vic Mizzy and wrote the theme song for F Troop. Taylor also worked on the Bob Newhart show and wrote for Jonathan Winters. So why don’t any of them mention this record in their biographies? It’s not mentioned on Henry Mancini’s webpage, Allmusic doesn’t review it. It’s not that bad.

Are the new Stooges re-issues worth getting?

Yes or no?

People are talking

Rollee McGill was a Philadelphia sax player in the 50's. You've heard him, he plays the great solo on "Get A Job" by The Silhouettes. This 45 (part 2 on the flip) came out in 1957 on Kaiser records, a label owned by a Philadelphia DJ named Kae Williams. It was a regional hit and Cameo re-released the record nationally but it didn't catch on.

There is a Bear Family compilation of Rollee's many singles called RHYTHM ROCKIN' BLUES. It's worth getting. McGill died in 2000, he was 68.

I dug this 45 out of a box full of tools at a flea market in Bristol, TN.

Who built the ark?

Noah did.

“The singing is really weird, and I like that."

Fur Bible was started when Kid Congo Powers (ex-Cramps & Gun Club, pre-Bad Seeds & Knoxville Girls), Patricia Morrison (ex-Bags, Legal Weapon & Gun Club, pre-Sisters of Mercy & Damned) and a drummer named Desperate backed up The Legendary Stardust Cowboy on a tour of England. They found another guitarist named Murray Mitchell and started Fur Bible.

Fur Bible was the first band the Kid Congo did the lead vocals for and he didn’t like it. "I've always been pretty proud of everything I've done, but that was the first time I'd ever sung on record, and it was not a project close to my heart." Years later he listened to the record again and decided that he wasn’t too bad: “The singing is really weird, and I like that." - Kid Congo Powers

Patricia Morrison wasn’t happy with the band. She called them the worst band in the world. No wonder the band didn’t last very long.

The record is not that bad but the Goth touches does sound a little dated now. I wonder if a different producer would’ve helped? I have no idea why but this record was very popular in Chattanooga. I probably sold 20 copies at the record store that I was working in at the time.

Not safe for work

The other day I was looking through the stats of the blog and I saw that we had our first visitor from Oman. But they weren’t looking for music, the search was for “excellent black sex” which I don’t remember ever posting about. The words that the search found were “Tobey Black of Meow” and the link to “Sex Kittens Compare Scratches” blog, which is excellent.

Anyway, the person has been back several times since then so I guess they like the non- excellent black sex stuff that is here. But since they came looking for it, here’s a couple things from the SHAFTMAN record that Funky Finger Records put out a few years ago.

If you don’t know the story, SHAFTMAN was a porn 8-track tape based on Shaft that came out in 1971. Somebody took the story from the tape and added some great funk and R & B songs and released it again. I only listened to it once or twice. The songs are great but I really don’t want to hear the Shaftman parts again.

Taboos

Two different ones.

Avast, matey!

Don't be forgetting that it be International Talk like a Pirate Day, ye scurvy dogs!

Through the years,

I keep on toiling.

Hey loser

Since a couple other blogs have posted some Sub Pop singles club things recently, I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon.

From September '89, here's the Lazy Cowgirls doing songs by The Nervous Eaters and the Misfits. The Lazy Cowgirls were one of the better bands os the late 80's but their cover of "Loretta" doesn't come close to the original by the Nervous Eaters.

Rhythm & Booze

OK, here's Buck Owens as Corky Jones. The record was released in 1956 on the Pep label, Buck had already done a few country records for the label and they didn't want to confuse his fans with a different sound. “Rhythm & Booze” is great, “Hot Dog” isn’t as hot.

Catch the wind

Here's one more song from Buck Owens BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER album. It's cover of "Catch The Wind" which was written by Donovan. When I first played the record, I thought the Buckaroos were playing "Gunga Din," a song from the Byrds 1969 album called BALLAD OF EASY RIDER. It doesn't sound much like Donovan's version.

Some advice

Never pass up a Buck Owens record. I got Buck’s BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER album out of the dollar bin last week and I’ve already listened to it a half dozen times. Buck Owens jumped on the folk-rock bandwagon a few years too late with this 1971 LP but the strangely peppy version of “I Am A Rock” was worth the wait. Owens was always a rocker (the Beatles thought so); he even cut some good rockabilly songs as Corky Jones. Buck wrote a sorta pro-hippie song too.

There are a couple other Paul Simon songs but those two are not as good as Owens’ original songs. English majors might disagree but I think this one is as good a song as anything Simon ever wrote. The Buckaroos had a top 10 hit with the title song. I don’t like it very much.

There’s a Dylan cover and it’s one of Bob’s best songs, Buck doesn’t seem too comfortable with the words. He sings them anyway and makes up some of his own.

If I had my way,

I'd tear the building down.

Some music

In 1986, four Athens, GA bands pooled their talents and resources to release a compilation EP called SOME. Members of each band contributed artwork and John Keane recorded all four bands. All of the covers were silk-screened and the ink on the back of my copy didn’t dry for years.

The Bar-B-Q Killers song is the best one on the record. I saw the band several times in ’85 and ’86 and they were always great. I did not like the one LP that they put out later on. Members of the band ended up in Jack O’Nuts and Come.

Mercyland has what would have been a great song if the drums didn’t sound so bad. Sad to say but the lyrics are more relevant now than they were in 1986.

Next up is Time Toy, who must’ve been really nice guys because everybody in Athens seemed to like them a lot. I’ve only a heard a few songs and don’t see what the big deal is. They were in the Athens, GA Inside Out movie (so were the Bar-B-Q Killers). Time Toy played a reunion show last July. Oh yeah, Time Toy’s singer was also in the original Hindu Love Gods with ¾’s of R.E.M. I’ll post that single someday.

All I know about Eat America is that they had a song on on this record.

We're going no place

Last week I said I’d post Mercyland’s first 45 and here it is. It’s a good record and “Black On Black On Black” is my favorite song by the band. All of Mercyland’s other singles are worth hearing if you can find them and so is the one LP that the band released while they were still together. The compilation LP called SPILLAGE is too much of a good thing. It should’ve been shorter. Unfortunately, that’s the easiest one to find since it was released by Rykodisc. All of the other records were on timy indie labels and are getting hard to find.

Like a lot of bands that started up in 1985, Mercyland was strongly influenced by Husker Du & The Minutemen. Most of them played a few shows, made a record and disappeared. Mercyland was saved from obscurity when Bob Mould asked David Barbe to join Sugar.

Next, I’m gonna post the SOME compilation. Woo-hoo!

All my friends are here

In 1975, Alex Chilton took a break from recording Big Star's thrid LP and went to the studios of Memphis radio station WLYX to play a live set. I hope he didn’t drive because he seems to be somewhat impaired, heck he even admits it during the cover of "I Will Always Love You". I wonder what somebody that just turned the radio on thought when they heard this stuff.

Anyway, I think these show will be very interesting for Chilton fans and worth skipping for everyone else. It’s interesting to hear the early versions of songs that ended up on SISTER LOVERS and the selection of cover songs shows that Alex had eclectic taste way back in 1975.

Does anybody know who is playing second guitar and singing?

NOTE: The link is fixed! It looks like yousendit.com won't accept something named "Death Cab For Cutie". Why the fcc not? When I renamed the file to "D C F C" it went through. Are they filtering it because of the name, the band or because they don't like anybody covering the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band?

The waves roll in,

the waves roll out.

P.S. Alex Chilton is alive!!!

It's been a long week.

Alex Chilton, please be alive.

Kat Nip

OK, I've been doing a music blog for six months now and I haven't posted anything about Neko Case yet. I figure I better post something soon or they'll take the blog away.

So here's some songs from Meow's first 6 song EP, which came out on pink vinyl in 1995. Meow was Tobey Black on guitar, C.C. Hammond played bass, and Neko Case was the drummer. All three sang. I really like this song and sing it at work a lot.

There was another band called Meow, so this one changed a letter and became Maow. They recorded one CD for Mint Records and then Neko decided to make a country record...