WASHED UP SOUNDS: 2013

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Time for some Mothers on Father's Day

If your children ever find out how lame you really are, they’ll murder you in your sleep

- Frank Zappa

Feelin' Alright was written by Dave Mason of Traffic in 1968 for their self titled debut album, just one of those songs that's stood the test of time, and has been cover by more artists than I can count. So I'm gong to try and find as many versions of it as I can and post them for my own amusement. Lots of versions of this song are very well known Joe Cockers version comes to mind , but there are countless other gem versions out there!!

Seems I got to have a change of scene
Cause every night I have the strangest dreams
Imprisoned by the way it used to be
Left here on my own or so it seems
I got to leave before I start to scream
But someone's locked the door and took the key

Feelin' alright
Not feelin' too good myself
Feelin' alright
Not feelin' too good myself

Boy you sure took me for one big ride
Even now I sit and wonder why
And when I think of you I start to cry
Got to stop belivin' in all your lies
Cause I got to much to do before I die

Before someone comes along and takes my place
With a different name and yes a different face

Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968

Well in honor of Nuggets celebrating its 40th anniversary I went out and purchased the 180gram reissue, I'm not big of reissues but I made an exception with this compilation. Nuggets was probably one of the first real introductions for me into the strange wonderful world of psychedelic rock. Finding a good used copy of this album is difficult unless you stalk it on eBay. so I went the reissue route and I can't wait to spin this many times over!!

LP Track List

1. I Had Too Much To Dream (The Electric Prunes)

2. Dirty Water (The Standells)

3. Night Time (The Strangeloves)

4. Lies (The Knickerbockers)

5. Respect (The Vagrants)

6. A Public Execution (Mouse)

7. No Time Like the Right Time (The Blues Project)

8. Oh Yeah (The Shadows Of Knight)

9. Pushin' Too Hard (The Seeds feat. Sky Saxon)

10. Moulty (The Barbarians)

11. Don't Look Back (Remains)

12. An Invitation to Cry (The Magicians)

13. Liar, Liar (The Castaways)

14. You're Gonna Miss Me (The Thirteenth Floor Elevators)

15. Psychotic Reaction (Count Five)

16. Hey Joe (The Leaves)

17. Romeo & Juliet (Michael & The Messengers)

18. Sugar and Spice (The Cryan' Shames)

19. Baby Please Don't Go (The Amboy Dukes)

20. Tobacco Road (Blues Magoos)

21. Let's Talk About Girls (The Chocolate Watchband)

22. Sit Down I Think I Love You (The Mojo Men )

23. Run, Run, Run (The Third Rail)

24. My World Fell Down (Sagittarius)

25. Open My Eyes (Nazz)

26. Farmer John (The Premiers)

27. It's A-Happening (Magic Mushrooms)

If one had to point to a single initial salvo that launched the garage rock revival movement in the 1970s and ‘80s, it would have to be the release of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968 in 1972. Elektra Records had approached rock critic Lenny Kaye (not yet the guitarist with the Patti Smith Group) with the notion of compiling an album of great, overlooked rock tunes, but what Kaye came up with was something significantly different -- an overview of the great, wild era when American bands, goaded by the British Invasion, began honing in on a tougher and more eclectic rock & roll sound, and kids were reawakened to the possibilities of two guitars, bass, and drums. Coming up with a simple definition of this period and its sound proved daunting -- the word "garage" appears nowhere in the liner notes to Nuggets, and his notion of "the first psychedelic era" quickly fell by the wayside -- but the frequent bursts of fuzztone, Farfisa organ, and vocal sneering in the 27 tunes Kaye selected codified a musical approach that flourished in the mid-'60s, and at a time when rock was becoming more self-consciously serious and arty, the primal power and sheer sense of fun audible in this music seemed like a minor revelation that became a clarion call to musicians, fans, and music scribes around the world. Nuggets proved to be of seismic importance in the years after its release, but just as importantly, it's a blast to listen to; Kaye's sequencing gives the album the joyous flow of a great afternoon of AM radio, and the album blends hits both big ("Pushin' Too Hard" by the Seeds, "Psychotic Reaction" by Count Five) and small ("You're Gonna Miss Me" by the 13th Floor Elevators, "Hey Joe" by the Leaves) with high-quality obscurities ("Don't Look Back" by the Remains, "It's A-Happening" by the Magic Mushrooms) and early efforts by future stars (Leslie West in the Vagrants, Todd Rundgren in Nazz, Ted Nugent in the Amboy Dukes). And while many of the garage compilations that would follow would focus relentlessly on the obscure and the noisy, Kaye's set not only demonstrates that some of this stuff actually made the charts, but that there was as much great pop as snotty proto-punk pouring out of America's rec rooms back in the day. And Kaye's liner notes were nearly as important as the music in defining the importance of this music and its era. Very few "oldies" compilations have had an influence approaching that of Nuggets, and even fewer are as rewarding to listen to; if you care about rock music in the '60s, you need to own this album. [In 1998, Nuggets would be expanded into a superb four-disc box set, but the original two-LP set remains available as a standalone CD release.

Leave your cares behind
Come with us and find
The pleasures of a journey to the center of the mind

This a great compilation if you really dig on Southern Rock , I picked this up not too long ago and it blew me away. The two discs includes some well known and little known soul , country and rock gems. So if you want a little southern fried music with your day pick this one up its well worth it, I'll post some songs from vol. 2 later.
9.5-10 on the Jam O Meter!!!

CD1:
1. (04:09) Lynyrd Skynyrd - The Seasons
2. (02:14) Barefoot Jerry - Smokies
3. (03:47) Joe South - Hush
4. (02:34) Bobbie Gentry - Papa, Won-t You Let Me Go To Town With You
5. (03:17) Area Code 615 - Stone Fox Chase
6. (03:54) Duane and Gregg Allman - God Rest his Soul
7. (02:32) Cher - I Walk on Gilded Splinters
8. (03:48) Cowboy - Please Be with Me
9. (03:40) The Allman Brothers - Ain-t Wastin- Time No More
10. (05:55) Link Wray - Be What You Want To
11. (04:08) Boz Scaggs - I-ll Be Long Gone
12. (05:29) Lynyrd Skynyrd - Comin- Home
13. (02:52) Bobbie Gentry - Season Come, Season Go

CD2:
1. (03:37) Leon Russell - Out in the Woods
2. (03:42) Tony Joe White - Polk Salad Annie
3. (04:43) Barefoot Jerry - Come to me Tonight
4. (03:42) Duanne and Gregg Allman - Morning Dew
5. (03:29) Dan Penn - If Love Was Money
6. (03:00) Linda Ronstadt - I Won-t Be Hangin- Round
7. (02:30) Waylon Jennings - Big D
8. (02:37) Big Star - Thirteen
9. (03:06) Bobbie Gentry - Mississippi Delta
10. (02:55) Travis Wammack - I Forgot to Remember to Forget
11. (03:01) Johnny Cash - If I Were A Carpenter
12. (04:13) Billy Vera - I-m Leavin- Here Tomorrow, Mama

The South will rise again my friend!!

Psychedelic Grapefruit for breakfast

Grapefruit were a London-based British band of the late 1960s. Their brand of music was a typical late 1960s blend of rock, which they often fused with psychedelic effects such as phasers and vocoders, or classical arrangements.
They were formed in 1967 as a result of John Perry's meeting Terry Doran at Apple Publishing and Doran's inputting Scottish born singer and bass guitarist George Alexander (born Alexander Young), a member of the talented Young family that also spawned his brothers George, the rhythm guitarist and founding member of The Easybeats and also Malcolm and Angus Young, both founding members of the Australian hard rock band, AC/DC. Alexander Young had chosen to remain in Britain when the rest of the Young's emigrated to Australia.^[1] Alexander had played with The Bobby Patrick Six, with whom he toured Germany in the mid 1960s.
Together with three former members of Tony Rivers and the Castaways (namely John Perry, Geoff Swettenham and Pete Swettenham), George Alexander formed 'The Grapefruit' (the band discarded the initial 'The' soon afterwards). The band was named by John Lennon after his future wife, Yoko Ono's book Grapefruit. Doran, a friend of Lennon, became their manager, seeing some commercial potential in them. Doran arranged for the band's music publishing rights (as songwriters) to be assigned to the publishing wing of The Beatles' new company Apple and they were the signed to Apple. However the first signed band to Apple Publishing was Liverpool group Focal Point, who were signed by Doran in September 1967. Grapefruit's record career was launched in the spring of 1968, albeit not on the Beatles' own Apple label, which opened for business a few months later. They were signed to a US label Equinox, run by Terry Melcher. This was distributed in the UK by Decca Records. However, The Beatles continued to take some interest in Grapefruit, with John Lennon introducing the band to the media and inviting John Perry to join in on the recording of the hit single "Hey Jude". As well as Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr of the Beatles, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, Donovan, and Cilla Black attended the press launch and were photographed with the band. Jimi Hendrix and Sajid Khan were reportedly also in attendance.

Grapefruit's recording career spanned only two years, from late 1967 to the end of 1969. They released two albums (Around Grapefruit (1968) and Deep Water (1969)) and several singles, none of which made a significant impact on the charts. Their best-known track is probably the Melcher produced "Dear Delilah", which was released in early 1968, and peaked at No. 21 in the UK Singles Chart,^[4] while their single "Deep Water" did crack the German Top 20, peaking at No. 19. Toward the end of their career, following the new material being written by Alexander (with some inclusions by Wale), Grapefruit shifted from melodic pop to more of a rock-based sound, referred to as soft rock in a full-page Billboard advertisement for their second album, Deep Water.
Grapefruit broke up in late 1969, with Alexander remaining the most visible. Alexander joined forces with his brother, George Young, and his songwriting partner Harry Vanda from The Easybeats and, in 1970, they recorded for the Young Blood label as Paintbox and Tramp. He also participated in sessions for Vanda and Young's Marcus Hook Roll Band.
Lennon and McCartney were co-producers of "Lullabye for a Lazy Day", a song that was initially called "Circus Sgt. Pepper".
Alexander, along with George Young and Harry Vanda, revived the Grapefruit name in 1971 issuing, "Universal Party" / "Sha Sha", but the reunion was shortlived

prob not the only thing they had for breakfast

Blog Mix Collection Vol. 1

I've been all over YouTube today collecting some of my favorite tracks for this blog , they span many different music styles and genres. Sometimes its just fun to drift across time and space filling in the musical gaps in my collective conscious, or to be blunt its fun to waste time when I can get it!! So with no further ado the first in my Blog Mix collection series.

Doctor Ross - Cat Squirrel (1961)

The Incredible Bongo Band - Apache (1973)

Ananda Shankar - Jumpin Jack Flash (1970)

Jean Jacques Perrey - E.V.A (1970)

THEM & Van Morrison - It's All Over Now Baby Blue (1966)

Area Code 615 - Hey Jude (1969)

Funkadelic - Super Stupid (1971)

The Village Sound - Big Bird (1969)

Sir Lord Baltimore - Kingdom Come (1970 - Full Album)

The Hassles - The Hassles (1967 - Complete Album)

Coloured Balls - Human Being (1973)

Formed in June 1969, the band was fronted by former Rebel Rouser Cliff Bennett and, in the course of its two year, two album career, featured lead guitarist and keyboardist Ken Hensley; bassist John Glascock (who replaced original bassist John Konas (Joseph Stanley Konas)); and drummer Lee Kerslake. After the first album, Kerslake and Hensley were replaced by Brian Glascock (drums) and Alan Kendall (guitar) respectively.
The band was founded by Bennett, a former pop star, after the dissolution of the Cliff Bennett Band. He teamed with the former Gods keyboard player Hensley, who drafted in fellow ex-Gods members Kerslake and Glascock. The name was decided over dinner when Bennett and his manager attempted to create the most disgusting band name possible.^{[citation needed]}
Toe Fat was to the record label, Rare Earth, in the US. In the UK, the band signed with EMI, who released their first album on the Parlophone label, and the second on Regal Zonophone.

The eponymously titled first album flopped commercially, but gained considerable critical praise.^{[citation needed]} Such was their stir that after their first single, "Workin' Nights", (the B-side was an early Elton John composition "Bad Side of the Moon") they were booked for a tour supporting Derek and the Dominos in the US. The album was also notable for its cover designed by the recently formed graphic art company Hipgnosis. The cover showed a beach scene with four people who have large toes superimposed over their heads. For the US release, a man and a topless woman in the background were replaced by the image of a sheep. The photo of the band on the back of the US album shows Cliff Bennett, Alan Kendall, John Glascock, and Lee Kerslake even though Alan Kendall did not play on the first album. This was an interim line-up, Lee Kerslake would soon depart also before second album was recorded.
Hensley quit the band to form Uriah Heep. Alan Kendall replaced Hensley, before their second album, Toe Fat Two. Bennett admitted in the sleeve notes of his Rebellion album that when asked he "probably should have joined them". Kerslake left to join the National Head Band, before also joining Uriah Heep in 1971. Glascock later joined Jethro Tull. Another ex-Gods man, Brian Glascock, became the new drummer.
Jonathan Peel (not the DJ) produced Toe Fat 2, after hearing them on several BBC radio sessions, including one for Terry Wogan. However, this LP also flopped, despite more radio airplay, and a reasonably successful US tour promoting it. Following these successive failures, their management and labels informed the group that they could no longer fund them.
Bennett recorded Rebellion, before quitting the music industry to become a shipping magnate. He still occasionally tours with the Rebel Rousers.
Alan Kendall and Brian Glascock went on to play with, and write for, the Bee Gees.