Upduff's

birth.

The hissing of some, errr, old records

My friend Jim brought over some Freddie Slack 78’s so I could burn them to CD for him. Here’s a couple of the songs. Any ideas how I can reduce the hissing? I’m sure Jim would appreciate it. Thanks!

Oh, yeah, something about the music. I’ve never heard a bad song by Freddie Slack. He was a drummer turned piano player that lead a fine band in the forties. That’s his band playing on Ella Mae Morse’s great “Cow-Cow Boogie”. Mosaic has a 3-CD set of Slack's records (including the ones that Jim brought over) that looks terrific.

For the stars are beautiful still

Remember.

The Rainbow
-- Leslie Coulson 1889-1916

I watch the white dawn gleam,
To the thunder of hidden guns.
I hear the hot shells scream
Through skies as sweet as a dream
Where the silver dawnbreak runs.
And stabbing of light
Scorches the virginal white.
But I feel in my being the old, high, sanctified thrill,
And I thank the gods that dawn is beautiful still.

From death that hurtles by
I crouch in the trench day-long
But up to a cloudless sky
From the ground where our dead men lie
A brown lark soars in song.
Through the tortured air,
Rent by the shrapnel's flare,
Over the troubled dead he carols his fill,
And I thank the gods that the birds are beautiful still.

Where the parapet is low
And level with the eye
Poppies and cornflowers glow
And the corn sways to and fro
In a pattern against the sky.
The gold stalks hide
Bodies of men who died
Charging at dawn through the dew to be killed or to kill.
I thank the gods that the flowers are beautiful still.

When night falls dark we creep
In silence to our dead.
We dig a few feet deep
And leave them there to sleep -
But blood at night is red,
Yea, even at night,
And a dead man's face is white.
And I dry my hands, that are also trained to kill,
And I look at the stars - for the stars are beautiful still.

I go to church

on Sunday.

Lipstick traces

(on a cigarette)

R.I.P. Desmond Dekker

Singer Desmond Dekker dead at 64

Desmond Dekker - the man who rose to fame on Jamaica's airwaves with popular songs such as "The Israelites", "Intensified" and "007 (Shanty Town)" - is dead.

The man who was christened Desmond Adolphus Dacres was born in July 16, 1941 died Thursday morning.

I'll keep it with mine

You will search, babe,
At any cost.
But how long, babe,
Can you search for what's not lost?
Everybody will help you,
Some people are very kind.
But if I can save you any time,
Come on, give it to me,
I'll keep it with mine.

I can't help it
If you might think I'm odd,
If I say I'm not loving you for what you are
But for what you're not.
Everybody will help you
Discover what you set out to find.
But if I can save you any time,
Come on, give it to me,
I'll keep it with mine.

The train leaves
At half past ten,
But it'll be back tomorrow,
Same time again.
The conductor he's weary,
He's still stuck on the line.
But if I can save you any time,
Come on, give it to me,
I'll keep it with mine.

Happy Birthday Bob Dylan!

Playin' records, drinkin' cokes, eatin' barbecue

I’m not really sure where I got this fine 45. Maybe it was in a pile of records that I got at at a flea market or junkstore and I didn’t notice it at the time. About 5 years ago, I found the record in a box on a shelf in the record room, put it on the turntable and loved it. It’s been near the top of the stack ever since.

"At The Party" really is a great record. I don’t know why it didn’t make it onto the AT THE PARTY compilation that Candy Records put out a few years ago, it would have fit right in. If you like this record even a little bit, you need AT THE PARTY. Heck, you need that album even if you don’t like this song at all.

The doo-wop style A-side is a chance for the Lyrics to get in touch with their sensitive side. I like it (the guitar part is very good) but it didn’t stand a chance in 1964. Maybe it would’ve been a hit if the Lyrics had been on a bigger label.

Ike Perry and His Lyrics performed around Cleveland, Ohio in the early sixties. They released at least three singles. This one was released twice. The first release was on Mama Records and then again on Courier Records, a small label from Fremont, Ohio.

I went down

to Tennessee.

I'll be rested

when the roll is called.

This

ain't no hustle.

There's more here. Get a copy of the demo CD!

Arthur Lee benefit show

Here's some more information about the Arthur Lee benefit show.

With a soft exploding sound

Of all the ‘lost bands’ of the eighties, the Neats are my favorite. The band started playing in the late 70’s and were hosting basement parties in the band house in 1979-80. The Neats played short strummy guitar songs not unlike what the Clean, Felt or the New South guitar bands were doing at just about the same time.

The Neat’s first release was a song for a local compilation 45 that also featured 3 other Boston bands. The song was very popular in Massachusetts and led to the band playing clubs all over the northeast. I wish I could’ve seen the band back then. There are rumors of a live tape floating around. Anybody got a copy?

In 1982, Richard Harte recorded the Neats and released their debut EP THE MONKEY HEAD’S IN THE CORNER OF THE ROOM on his Ace of Hearts label. I love this record, there’s not a bad song on it. I put the whole thing on one side of a C-90 twice just so I wouldn’t have to keep rewinding the tape.

The Neats second LP came out in 1983. It came in a great black & white picture of Neats posters and some chairs. You’re gonna have to take my word for it, I can’t find any pictures online. The only problem is that it’s too short. There’s only nine songs and the average time is 3 minutes. It’s not enough! There was a single with a non-LP b-side.

I’ve heard there was interest from some labels but nothing came from it. Instead the Neats toured. I think they even made it down south a few times but I missed ‘em.

And that was it for 4 years. The bands didn’t make another record until 1987. The band that made CRASH AT CRUSH and BLUES END BLUE was very different from the ’81-’82 Neats. Not bad but not what I wanted to hear. Oh well. I’ve still got the records.

Somebody needs to put the Neats ’80-’83 records out on CD. Maybe with some unreleased songs or the live stuff. I’m surprised that the Neats weren’t included on the CHILDREN OF NUGGETS box. You can read a bit more about the Neats here.

Your cash

ain't nothing but trash.

Thanks!

For being you, mom.

The people I don’t like

Given a choice between this and any song the Smiths ever recorded, I’ll take “You Should All Be Murdered” every time. No contest. It’s better than anything the Smiths did and it’s got a mellotron. Add a mellotron and anything sounds better.

Lookin'

for a leader.

Banned post

I got this record because the Syndicate of Sound’s original version is so great. Somehow, I had decided that a punk version would be even better. It’s not. The song is good but it doesn’t come close to the original record. Oh well, it only cost me a buck. The b-side is pretty good. I guess it’s about CBGB’s but I can’t make out any of the words.

The Banned started playing as Precious Little in 1975 and became the Banned in ’76. The group released “Little Girl” in 1977 on their own Can’t Eat Records. Harvest Records picked up the record and it reached #36 in the UK charts in 1978. The next year, the Banned changed their name back to Precious Little and signed to Chrysalis Records. Then they broke up.

You can read about them here if you’re interested. There’s a CD available too.

Precious Little/Banned drummer/singer Paul Aitken currently has a band called The Retros. The ‘best party band in the world’ plays weddings, parties and festivals. Sounds good to me, I’ll keep them in mind next time I need to hire some entertainment.

You can hear it

anywhere you chance to go.

Grant McLennan 1958-2006

Very sad news. Grant McLennan died in his sleep last night. BEFORE HOLLYWOOD is one of my top five albums ever. Music doesn't get much better than this. Damn.

She's got diamonds

in her hair.

Rocket Science

After several days of almost knowing something about the bands I’m posting, we’re back to bands I don't know anything about. I tried doing some web searches to find stuff about this band and got bored after a few minutes. There was just too much stuff to dig through and I wasn’t finding anything useful.

There are a bunch of bands named the Rocket Scientists (one here in Huntsville). This quartet was from Delaware and put out three 45s (that I know of) in 1990-91. The first two are on the band’s own Re-Entry Records. I don’t know which one came first because Re-Entry’s numbering system is over my head. Probably because they’re Rocket Scientists and I’m not. One of the records is a four song EP, two of the songs are keepers. Both songs are good on the other Re-Entry record, here’s the better of the two.

Also in 1991, The Rocket Scientists did a single for Estrus records. A not-so-good song called “Kick” was included on the ESTRUS LUNCHBUCKET 7” box and the label did a 45 called “Pithe Helmet” for the Estrus Crust Club series. The B-side of that record is my favorite song by the Rocket Scientists. Estrus still has copies available if you want one.

And that was the last I heard of the Rocket Scientists. Did they keep playing or break up? Anybody know?

Happy birthday!

Lesley Gore!

and Link Wray!

Twist with the Lions

Twist craze cash-in records are almost always worth picking up. Even the bad ones have usually have something to recommend them. They’re easy to find and (usually) cheap too. Collect ‘em all!

Today’s twist record is TWIST WITH THE LIONS, a 1962 (all twist records are ’62 or '63) release on Metro Records, MGM’s budget label. The Lions (MGM, lions – get it?) play old standards done with a surprisingly heavy beat. The arrangements are by the great Billy Mure, I don’t know who the musicians are but I imagine that Mure got the very best musicians that didn’t have something better to do that morning.

Mure keeps the songs short. That’s good for two reasons. The folks that bought the twist cash-in records weren’t use to strenuous activity and it’s bad for sales if people have heart attacks when your music is on the hi-fi. The other reason is that the songs are over before you get tired of them. The whole LP is over in twenty minutes. On to the next craze!