Something Kinks

My fascination for the Kinks happened early on. Remember that odd 8-track I found in my dads music collection? There was a Kinks song on that 8-track too. I did not play it over and over like the Deep Purple or the Eric Burdon and The Animals, but I waited for it to be on. I loved the fact they were loud and noisy and I could sing along to. The Kinks were a band that everyone seemed to like. All through my life I had friends who liked them. I had of a lot of their tapes. I had the old Kinks Kronikles and used to play that too many times.

Even in high school I would make mix tapes for my Walkman and put a Kinks song from Kronikles and it would be so much better mix because of that one song. I tried to buy some of the Kinks albums, but that was a problem because even then some of the ones I wanted were high in price. I went to tag sales and found two albums of the Kinks. One was a greatest hits package and the other was Lola Vs. the Powerman & the Moneyman Goaround. Both were great, but did not have enough Kink's material for me. Over the next few years I bought three different greatest hits collection. None of them really went to deep for me, but then again I was happy on what I got.



My Kinks love was shown some light in 1998. Ray Davies was on VH1 Storytellers. A few months after that I picked up the CD of that night. It was a lot longer then the TV show I watched, plus their were more great Kink songs. Also around that time he was touring. Since I never saw the Kinks, I figure this was a great time to see him. It's a good thing I seized that moment to see him. It was not the last time I saw him. I saw him a total of five times and each performance was great. I do wish I was around in the 60's to see the full band play, but I was happy with this. Each song was great and was an eager flashback to the time when the Kinks were a great Rock and Roll band.

Around the same time I tried to get some Kink's albums. I wanted the 60's classics. I could only find the straight issues. I knew I could find better editions. It was a good thing, because do to the Storyteller and a Kink's live special, the CD's were getting re-issued. I was in luck, I picked up a few and was very happy with what I got. Then I realized later on that I made an error. I forgot to get some of the important ones. On the other hand some of the important ones did not even get re-issued. The ones I wanted to get I forgot to get. I told myself that I would pick them up when I had the time. I never did till this year. I do regret it, but on the other hand I might have missed a few things along the way.



Just this year I did miss some great gems, but not the gem of Something Else. A great album. In the year 1967 when there was so much great music around. The Kinks slid into the radar with a classic. It maybe the one that very few Kinks fans go to for an album, but the album had three classic Kinks songs. The music was great and the album as full of wonderful pop gems. I always felt their albums as a whole was the prize. There music was always wonderful to hear. They sadly did not play a lot of their album songs on the radio. I wondered if I would have been a Kinks fan if I lived during that time period?

With so many albums to talk about I chose Something Else for the reason of it's time it came out. With so many great albums of 1967 the Kinks made a bold and wonderful statement. I mean for me I could have easily chose Village Green or Face to Face. Each are great classics, but the with a starter album I would chose Something Else. Songs like "Death of a Clown" and "David Watts" are true gems. The classic cookie as it were is "Waterloo Sunset." "Love Me Till the Sun Shines" does not even feel like a Kinks song. Full of Bluesy rock and is quite a treat. The Kinks never rock very hard on the album, preferring acoustic ballads, music hall numbers, and tempered R&B to full-out guitar attacks. Part of the album's power lies in its calm music, since it provides an elegant support for Davies' character portraits and vignettes. Ray Davies songwriting becomes more refined, he becomes more nostalgic and sentimental, retreating from the psychedelic and mod posturings that had dominated the rock world. Enjoy the classic that is mostly overlooked. This album, like myself got me to become the great Kinks fan. Have a blast!

Bill Fay's Time

In the March 2005 Issue if Wire magazine I read an wonderful article about a man names Bill Fay. I knew nothing about his previously. By the end of the article I wanted to hear all the great praise that they were giving him. I heard one of his song's on one of many Jim O'Rourke projects and if he did an accurate re-make then I liked what I heard. The music was very mellow and the lyrics where very interesting. My only problem was to find Bill Fay's original. I looked everywhere for the records that he put out. He put out only two so ho hard could it be to find them. Looking on the internet the price was out of my range. I am sure that it was worth it at $100.00 but I did not have that kinda loot.

Then one day it all changed. I was on my downloading program that I always use looking for something other then Bill Fay when I decided to browse the host that had this Incredible String Band album I was looking for. I saw that this user had the Bill Fay. I felt like a young kid at Christmas time getting exactly what they asked for from Santa. When I noticed that he had two Bill Fay albums I grabbed them both. I mean I needed to find all the Bill Fay I could find. I quickly burned two copies of this. One went into the car and the other was for a friend who needed to hear this. I loved her opinion on some of the music I listen to and if she liked it, the disc was a free chance to hear something fresh and wonderful.



On the way to see my friend I was liking song after song. At this point I had no idea what album this was of Bill Fay's but it was well done. His lush vocals, and his simple and it was new to me. The Wire magazine mentioned how really influential he was to people, like Wilco, Jim O'Rourke, and others. When I got to my friends house I handed her the CD and told her to listen to it and quickly tell me what she thought. I needed to have somebody else listen to it to one, tell me I am not crazy liking this stuff, and two, to really get someone who does not know a clue about this style or genre of music. I let my friend listen and immediately she wanted to have a copy. She loved his wonderful voice. She liked his sound and really though this music was contemporary. She told me how he had a lot of uneasiness in his voice, but had so much to say. She wanted to know if there was any more music then what I gave her. I was not sure, but I was bound to find out.



About a year later I found a Bill Fay CD and I picked it up. The rich sound that I heard was making me smile. Wire magazine told me one thing. It told me that he was a gem in the ocean. His lyrics too are just so wonderful. If you got some time just listen to "Pictures of Adolf." I caught wind of the cover by Jim O'Rourke and it to this day still blows me away. I am a completest and trying to find this on original LP was even harder. I still to this day cannot find it. I did some research and one sold for about $1165.00. For me that is too much.

So my recommendation is to pick the CD for about $15.00. It's well worth it. The music is wonderful and it's a lot different then some of my other picks, but it something you can tell your music friends that you found something great and different and actually listenable. Try it and I am sure you will like it. Enjoy! By the way, enjoy the music below.

Nina's Blues

The first time I heard Nina Simone was in 1996. I was on my way to work and heard a Jazz show play some of her stuff. I did not know much, but then my experience in female jazz and blues vocals was a little weak. I liked what I heard, but would love to hear more. At the library I worked I told my co-worker to find me a few Nina Simone albums through the libraries inter-library loan service. I told him what I heard was from the middle 1960's. He came to me when we were going to lunch and told me that he sent out for four CD's of her work. When they came in I was transfixed on this wonderful music.

I got home and asked my father about her. He knew a little, but he told me about the wonderful voice she had. Doing a little research I found out that Jeff Buckley also loved her stuff. His song "Lilac Wine" is a direct tribute to her. He channeled her so well. Even in interviews when he was alive he used to tell the story how he was turned on to Led Zeppelin and Nina Simone. He mentioned many others, but he really thought those two changed his view of music. It was quite touching. Something I will always remember is when I picked up the re-issue of Live at Sin-e He covered Nina's "Be My Husband." He retitled it "Be Your Husband" but still had the same effect and it tore me to pieces.



A few years later a female friend and I went to go see Thomas Crown Affair. I was a little reluctant because I was a huge fan of the old version with Steve McQueen, but I decided to go because I wanted to see if their was any differences. There is a scene in the film where Nina Simone's music was used. I was quite alert when I heard this and put this in the back of my head to look for it. After the movie my friend asked me if I liked the film. I mentioned that I thought the film was very good, and the Nina Simone song blew my mind. She asked me if it was during the theft scene. I nodded my head and quickly replayed that in my head. She asked me if I had any of her music. I told her I had a few CD's that she might like.

With Nina Simone on the mind I decided to listen to her more and more. Every time I did it reminded me of the scene in Thomas Crown Affair. I became more and more of a fan of her when I went back to school. Her music was not only inspirational, but it was also controversial and at the radio station I used to Disc Jockey at had a few songs that were banned because of their content. Of course music with swears was one of the many things that we could not play, but none other then Nina Simone had one of her songs "Mississippi Goddam" was one of the few challenged songs we could not play. Something I did not know going into the Disc Jockey field. Her music was so great, why was this song so different. I never found out why, but I am sure it did spark something when it was first played.



Nina had a great career and her music was wonderful, not only that but you ever hear her versions of popular songs written by Dylan, Bee Gees, Leonard Cohen, Hall and Oates, and so many others. They are actually quite unique and fun to listen to. Her voice had incredible range and character to it. Her unique music should have been appreciated more. Her name should be in same breath as Billie Holiday or Ella Fitzgerald.

This is not her best album, but at least at has two wonderful gems in "Sinnerman" and also "Be My Husband." Both are wonderful songs and should be anyone's musical collection. Her music changed the way people look at females singers and gave people like Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins and countless others hope to sing and do what they do. She helped people like Lauryn Hill, Jill Scott, and others today use the wonderful voice they have today. And for me I love her music because of a dear friend and one Jeff Buckley who was not afraid to keep her legacy alive with such great passion for her. Nina is a true genius and is very important in any music conversation that you have. Enjoy! She is a classic. A recent biography gives a great story about her that should be checked out.

Egberto

Back in the early 1990's I used to buy a ton of tapes. I would come home with a bag of used cassettes and play them in my stereo or in the car or even in my Walkman. I would go to the used record store and just pick up a few tapes because I wanted to listen to something durning study hall or when I would go for a bike ride. When I bought records I would have a stash of blank cassettes to fill those up. I would use the blank cassettes for taping songs of radio or Monday night a local radio station from 7-9pm would play a BBC concert or a live archive concert from the 70's. That is how I heard about Deep Purple In Concert from. If you remember that post.

On days I did not go to the used record store to buy tapes I would go to the regular record store and rummage through the cheap tapes. For a cheap price of $3.99 and lower I would find all kinds of cassettes for what I needed. I found most of the King Crimson catalog there. I also found a big pile of ECM tapes. I did not know much about what ECM was all about then, but the guy I knew at the record store told me that I should at least take one or two home and listen. One of the first tapes I picked up was a Keith Jarrett. I liked what I heard and then I went back to get another. One day I took my $20.00 and bought all the tapes I could get with that. They were all ECM. The friend at the shop told me next time I come in he would have some more ECM for me. He was not kidding, he called me at home and told me to bring my backpack . I strolled in on my bike and he handed me about twenty ECM titles. He had all kinds of ECM artists that I listen to. He pointed out three cassettes I should listen to. These were Steve Tibbetts Safe Journey (which I talked about in a previous blog October 29th 2009). Chick Corea Return to Forever and Egberto Gismonti Sol Do Meio Dia (which translates to Midday Sun).



I grabbed all three cassettes and decided that I would devote one tape a day to listen to. I knew very little about ECM then and I did not know much about what they had on their record label. This is about the time I started to broaden my musical spectrum. It was ECM that taught me that you don't have to be listening to Rock and Roll all your life. After the three days of listening to those tapes I decided to listen to the others that he gave me. He had more then one album with Egberto Gismonti on it. I continued listening to those. His guitar playing was quite impressive. Everything he put his hands on had a feel of wonderful and lush world type music. My fascination with ECM continued. I would buy more and more tapes and then I graduated to CD and LP. I look at my collection now and I have about 300 ECM label albums. Every once in a while I pull one out and play it.

The Egberto Gismonti stuff is quite different then any other guitar type album either on ECM or otherwise. In some respects it sounds like a classical guitar and in other albums it sounds like a solo instrument that has it's own unique sound. Egberto's sound on a album called Folk Songs with Jan Garbarek and Charlie Haden(also an ECM album), It does not sound like it's just there for background, lush instrumentation. It has a sense of place where all other people who play guitar. It's like a World Fusion album. There is no question though when you hear his guitar, that he has a incredible signature sound like no other. Even Charlie Haden and Jan Garbarek put their own stamp on it.



With Sol Do Meio Dia he grabs Jan Garbarek for some lush and beautiful passages that only he could do. Ralph Towner who I plan to talk about in a later blog lends his 12-String guitar playing to this mix plus the wonderful Colin Walcott and Nana Vasconcelos in their element of Tabla and Percussion round out a wonderful rich sound. The side long Suite is the a very good piece of music. It has everyone playing on it. My personal favorite is a song called "Raga." The song features Colin Walcott and Nana Vasconcelos at what they do so well. Egberto's wonderful Django style guitar playing while Colin and Nana just do something that is hard to describe, but with their talent they do it with such ease and perfection. Another song that shows how great Egberto Gismonti is, "Baiao Malandro" This does not even feature his guitar playing. This features his piano playing. This song is part of the side two suite and is the last song in that part. His piano playing is a sound of a classical concert pianist. Truly great to hear and be in shock.

Given that this came out in 1978 it feels like way out of place for that time period. It is an album only ECM could put out. Enjoy this world fusion album and take it from me it is a must own. It sadly is out of print and with ECM it will slowly come back in print and see the light it so richly deserves. There are other Egberto Gismonti album to check out as well, but this is a great place to start. Enjoy!

Chocolate, Cheese and Ween = A Wonderful Meal

Freedom of the body
Freedom of the mind
A ho on South Street hired for tricks
Little girls pickin' up sticks
Freedom of '76

Wastee little weasel
Wants cheap tricks
Liberty bell cracked in half
A bacon steak
A perfect match
Freedom of '76

My girl Sasha
Lookin' good on the street
"Mannequin" was filmed at Woolworth's
Boyz II Men still keepin' up the beat, yeah
Freedom of '76

Fairmount Park in the summer
Lookin' good on the street
"Mannequin" was filmed at Woolworth's
Boyz II Men still keepin' up the beat, yeah
Freedom of '76, nah yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Ohh, baby, yeah yeah, yeah



Does Humor belong in music? That was the question Frank Zappa asked all of us one day. Well it does, and it's not Weird Al or Monty Python or Bonzo Do-Da Band. All these work well and should be talked about. The music I am talking about is the music of Ween. If you know Ween well then you know they take nothing seriously, and no matter what they do they still make us laugh. Ween does it with such dead pan humor that we laugh no matter what they do. It could be a song about AIDS, or an Irish drinking song or even stage fright. They make fun of Ennio Morricone too. Whatever Ween does, Ween does it well.

When I first heard Ween it was in 1992 at a party. I was talking to a friend when someone put their CD on. I started to laugh at the stereo. My friend must have thought that I was crazy. She asked me if there was something wrong with our conversation. I told her to listen carefully to the music that is being played on the stereo. After a while we both started to laugh. This humor was nothing to do with parody type stuff like Weird Al or even stand up humor like Richard Pryor. This music was funny because it' lyrics and just funny thoughts and words made it funny.



Their subject matter was childhood, or a parody of Philly Soul in the 70's. This shows up in the album that I am talking about here called Chocolate and Cheese. They even make stabs at people like Prince on a song called "Roses Are Free." It's funny themes and even making the music sound like it's of that artist. A good example is an album called The Mollusk. The whole album is a tribute to a genre of music. They make fun of us for liking Progressive Rock. It's not there to offend us. It just shows that Ween makes sure we all laugh at their expense.

Ween are very good at taking silly things seriously and serious things lightly. That's exactly what makes Chocolate and Cheese such a fun, exciting album. Ween explore virtually every permutation of pop, rock, soul, and funk, and that's what makes them exciting. Ween do it so well that very few others come close. If you want the same then I suggest that you try this on. Ween is something I am sure will be a great conversation starter once it's on the stereo at your party. Enjoy!

Mister, would you please help my pony?
He's over there behind the tree
He's down in the dirt, would ya help him?
I think it's his lung

Mister would you please help my pony?
He's chewin' bark and not the leaves
He's cryin' like a baby, would you help him?
I think it's his lung

Mister, would you please help my pony?
He's down and he ain't gettin' up
He coughed up snot in the driveway
And I think his lung's fucked up

In The Land of Caravan

There are many types of Progressive Rock out there. These different avenues of Progressive Rock can range as Orchestral type Prog, to heavy metal type. There is so much out there that it sometimes gets to be a blur. King Crimson did a great job of creating all kinds of sounds in their albums. One album had Jazz feel to it and the next one had elements of Classical. It was clear that Progressive Rock could reach different roads and still have some Rock sense ability. There is so much to talk about when you talk Prog with somebody because each person likes their own style. While at Nearfest I was at that same question. What Progressive Rock do you like?

There is also a scene that I enjoy listening to that was created around the time King Crimson ruled the roost. Some of this music was clearly defined as something called the Canterbury Scene. These bands fused a jazz feel with heavy psychedelic. A fraternal collective of musicians clustered around the Kentish tourist town that is home to the Church of England's Archbishop, the Canterbury Scene provided the cradle for a half-dozen of the most freewheeling British bands of the post-psychedelic era.(AM) The band that came out of this scene are quite impressive and some of my favorite of this type of genre. These bands include, Gong, Hatfield and The North, Soft Machine, Kevin Ayers, Robert Wyatt, Egg, National Health and lastly Caravan. These band fused the Jazz elements with the Psychedelic music quite well.



Caravan I got into later then all the Progressive Rock bands. It was not because I did not know much about them, it was because the there stuff was a bit hard to find in retail shops or at good used record stores. I found one but the price then was way to much for my blood. I had a friend who gave me most of their albums on tapes so I really listened to those. They nicely fit on a side of a 90 minute cassette. Each title was also quite a play on words. For example, For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night, If I Could Do It All Over Again I Do It All Over You, and Cunning Stunts. My favorite album was a simple Progressive Rock title, In The Land Of Grey and Pink. These tapes kept me happy because I could see how well Caravan made the use of Jazz, and Rock I also liked the length of Caravan songs. On In The Land of Grey and Pink one song takes up the whole side of a LP. This has been done before with Yes, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Rush and others, but this song was full of multi-chord changes and wonderful lyrics.

In 1994 I decided to pick up the 2Cd retrospective of Caravan. I liked it because now I could hear all the albums. I could even listen to stuff I did not even have. It was cool to listen to this stuff now, but I can only imagine what this stuff would have been like in 1971. Caravan was quite good at doing great music to just zone out to. It was my friend who suggested that these albums featured on this retrospective are damn good albums too. The stuff that was not part of this set should be listened to also. It was not until 2001 many of these albums got re-issued with much improved sound quality and really good extra bonus tracks.



I picked up most of the Caravan CD's with bonus materiel to them and when trying to figure out what to write about for this post, it was hard to figure out. You might just need to hear them for yourselves. I do promise you this, that they are as important as any other Progressive Rock band from the 70's. A fine example is the twenty-two minute song "Nine Feet Underground." The song has wonderful examples of their Canterbury influence and the genre itself. Check them out and you too will enjoy what this music has to offer and maybe get you to Nearfest like me and know what makes my yearly get away so special. Enjoy!

Urban Chicago

After I finished my community college studies I told myself I was going to work, travel and enjoy myself. I wanted to go on road trips to Baseball Hall of Fame, Chicago, and other great points of interest. I did a few of these travels and had some fun. In the case of work, I needed to find full time work to do these ventures. I had a part time gig, but that was not paying my bills nor was it making me save any. I would use some of that money to buy music. I applied at a few places and finally found a place that would (I thought) make me happy. I liked the long days because it kept me out of trouble. But on the other hand I did not really have time for myself or for that matter my girlfriend. I am surprised that we stayed together during this time.

When I decided to work at a copy cat Borders Store I was excited to put my music and book knowledge to use and help people find cool music and great books to read. After a few weeks of helping the store get in shape, it came to the conclusion of the big boss that my knowledge would be useful in the Cafe. I kinda laughed and shrugged it off and decided that maybe one day I would be rewarded. After a few weeks I got tired of the mess and the last straw was hearing a person complain about why should could not find a Mozart CD and her husband could not find a good Jazz CD to listen to. I left the desk and found both what they were looking for. Sadly, the person in charge that night saw it and told the big boss and the next day I was dismissed from my job.



Over the time I worked their I was able to get music at a good price. I would see things that were different or odd and I would save my check (or what was left of it) and buy CD's. One day a group passed my hands while looking for something else. I told the friend in the music department to hold on to it for me while I asked my friend the musical questions. "What Do You know about Art Ensemble of Chicago?" He told me that I should get most of the stuff to pick up and he told that that if the CD was a ECM Art Ensemble of Chicago release then I should really get it.

I decided to pick it up and with my discount it turned out to be a great price. The album called Urban Bushmen and I was up for the challenge of a 2CD set. I really thought maybe it was like a retrospective of their work. I had no idea that it was a live recording and that it was a hard album to understand, but that was okay by me because I welcomed it with open ears. The mix of multiple genres helped me understand where they were going musically and stylistically. I really did not know what to make of the music then, but I learned a lot from it. I liked the percussion on it and also the sense of tribal type music. It was something that I am sure would have not been in my collection if I did not ask the questions.



When I first saw the CD I thought the cover art was a bit odd, but I have chosen music before with different art work. The music of Art Ensemble of Chicago has been around for decades and each time they put something out, they stretch their creative musical ideas and influence. The fact that Art Ensemble of Chicago collectively changed the Jazz landscape. Each member in the band too has done some amazing work. Lester Bowie is an amazing Trumpet player. His solo stuff is worth seeking out. Roscoe Mitchell is the only one of the group I have seen live. His music has always been associated with the importance of the Jazz scene in Chicago. Roscoe and Anthony Braxton are some of the most important people from the AACM. (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians)

In the late '60s and early '70s, the Art Ensemble helped pioneer the fusion of jazz with European art music and indigenous African musics. It also fused jazz with itself; that is to say, the band combined elements of jazz history and pre-history -- for instance, music from the sanctified church services, minstrel shows, and bawdy houses of late 19th and early 20th century America -- with a modernist spirit of experimentation. (AM) The album I chose was the first of many great albums I bought by them. Check this one out and tell me what you think. Enjoy something different and I am sure you will pick more up! Enjoy!