Vinyl Dump

Swans Public Castration Is a Good Idea - 1986

2011-07-17T01:13:00.004-04:00

I've heard Swans described as sounding like a Brontosaurus fucking a cement truck. I, personally, have described them as sounding like a bunch of cave men threatening to rape someone. No matter what kind of metaphors you want to apply to the band, everyone can agree that it is heavy, crushing, violent, and angry.

Swans frequently get lumped in with no wave bands but really don't belong there. Swans makes Mars sound like 30 Seconds To Mars. Okay, maybe Filth sounds a little no wave but by the next album, Cop, Swans had spiraled so far down that it can no longer be labeled as no wave. Maybe I would call it simply "no" music.

By 1986 Jarbo was in the band but her influence wasn't really there, yet. I love her creepy background vocals, but there is no denying that the band mellows out once she joins (compare Cop to Holy Money or Children Of God). I'm not commenting on whether or not she is responsible for the change of Swans' sound, rather stating that the change happened shortly after she joined the band. That's what makes this live album such an anomaly. With Holy Money Swans were loosening up a bit, but none of that is present on this record. Children Of God must have been quite a shock after witnessing this album live. Instruments??!! Melodies?!?! A woman singing?!?! I wonder if Gira and Co. figured they couldn't go any further with this sound after this album.

I really love how this is a metal album without sounding at all like heavy metal music. I have no idea why metal didn't progress more toward this. Why metal is huge and glossy is a mystery to me. No other band can move this much air with such few instruments.

I generally think live albums are sub-par. They usually sound horrible and just end up being the artists greatest hits played faster. I do, however, think there are a few stand outs. I'd say this album, (the) Melvins' Colussus Of Destiny, Throbbing Gristle's Heathen Earth, The Blue Meanies' A Sonic Documentation Of Exhibition And Banter, Mayhem's Live In Leipzig and Sam Cooke's Live At The Harlem Square Club are pretty much the only live albums I think are better or equal to the artist's studio work.

Download and play this as loudly as you can stand it.....

Note: There is a silent gap at the end of Fool. This is on both copies of the CD that I have heard. Also, this CD sounds like it's just recorded from a vinyl copy. Again, both copies of this CD that I have heard sound this way. This is the version on Thirsty Ear that came out in 1999.

Track listing:

from CD:
1. Money Is Flesh
2. Fool
3. A Screw
4. Anything For You
5. Coward
6. A Hanging
7. Stupid Child
8. Another You

Download Public Castration Is a Good Idea from DivShare (151.2 MB)

Spyder TurnerStand Be Me - 1967

2011-03-08T01:13:00.000-05:00

It's no secret that I like old soul music. So here is Spyder Turner's debut LP Stand By Me. The title track has a really cool gimick to it. He starts singing the song like other soul singers; Jackie Wilson, James Brown, Eddie Kendricks, Otis Redding, etc. I heard him doing this live on WFMU about a year or so ago and it worked so much better live. His Al Green impression was spot-the-fuck-on.

The rest of the record is very good as well. Nothing too amazing, honestly, but an all around solid soul record. Usually these things were based around one hot single with the rest just being kinda filler stuff. This one really isn't. Yeah, 'Stand By Me' is obviously the single but the rest of it really holds up, too. Turner's got a good voice and some fire in his bones.

He's still going at it, too. He put out a record in '09 to benefit a Haiti Relief Fund.

I've tacked on the live version of Stand By Me from Fool's Paradise on WFMU 'cause it's awesome. Click here to listen to it.

Track listing:

Side A:
1. Stand By Me
2. Hold On, I'm Coming
3. I Can't Make It Anymore
4. Moon River
5. I'm Alive With A Lovin' Feeling

Side B:
1. I Can't Wait To See My Baby's Face
2. Dream Lover
3. Morning, Morning
4. Don't Hold Back
5. I Don't Want To Cry
6. Your Precious Love

Download Stand By Me from DivShare (68.24 MB)

WFMU

2011-03-02T21:59:00.005-05:00

WFMU's annual fund drive is up and running right now. Go pledge money to them to make sure they can keep operating for at least another year. It really is amazing that in 2011 something like this can exist. In a world where everything is owned and operated by one of four companies, It's nice to know there is a media outlet that doesn't answer to anybody and has no political agenda. Even NPR is concerned with program content to get the maximum amount listerns and therefore the maximum government grants. WFMU isn't tied to anything except the listeners! That's it. No snarky liberal car talk or stupid british not-funny game shows. WAIT, WAIT, I DON'T CARE!!! No matter how much you pledge, it's worth it. Check out the full list of DJ premiums here. These are some of my favorites:

Dave Emory's Tea Party Fascism, 2011
Ever in stride, Dave presents the threads what lead to where we're at. (Data CD and new anti-fascist snack-food item/brain implant kit.)

Doug Schulkind's Love Your Motherlode, Volume 2
The mind-blowingest rarities Doug's downloaded for his "Mining the Audio Motherlode" blog posts: Soul, Samba, Psych, Salsa, Jazz, Afrobeat, Funk, Bollywood. Massive!

The Best Show On WFMU with Tom Scharpling Presents Don't Stop Me Now 2011 Best Show Fantasy Pack
A T-shirt! A poster! And a vinyl 7" with exclusive tracks by big acts recorded just for this premium! Our best yet! (Sizes available: M, LG, XL, XX)

Irwin's Let's Get Plastered and Raid Circus World - The Amanda Tapes, Vol. 2
The chaos continues as Irwin presents another set of juvenile growls, Indian hoots & monster beats from the Alabama power child. Compiled from newly discovered tapes.

Seven Second Delay T-shirt
(Sizes available: S, M, LG, XL, XX)

Nardwuar's Video Vault Chapter 2
A DVD compilation of some of Nardwuar's favourite interviews from the past couple months. Everything from Drizzy Drake to Black Flag to Florence and the Machine and much much more! Doot doola doot doo ... doot doo !

Underwater Theme Park presents 20 Degrees of Separation, Part 2
A set of songs where each new song is a cover of a song by the artist who covered the preceding song.

Sinner's Crossroads' Can I Get A Witness?
140 plus minute 2-CD collection of ecstatic preaching culled from radio broadcasts, homemade cassettes, and long lost commercial discs.

William Berger's Demo Hell
The renderings of tortured souls, sourced from cassettes, CD-Rs, obscure downloads and gifts. Vintage black metal demos in a dance with some newer noise electronics. Contributions from Physical Demon, Bob Bellerue, Husere Grav, Demon Sword, Explosive Improvised Device, and several others who dared scam a ride with Charon. Original drawing insert by Sarah Zahn.

Rare and Collectible Fine Wine - 25 Soulful Ultra-Obscurities from the Vaults
There's rare and there's rare. These are the one-offs, the un-Google-ables, the soul 45s that barely exist outside Mr. Fine Wine's living room.

Reggae Schoolroom's Reggae Dancing
Jeff Sarge presents a collection of reggae dance music that will get your body moving.

The Glen Jones Radio Programme featuring X. Ray Burns presents
The yearly collectible CD featuring Jonesey and X Ray.

Gaylord Fields' All the Lady Singles
An epochal collection of the most glorious original 1960s girl-group 45s ever pressed, with every song brimming with hope, heartache and castanets.

So many awesome shows and awesome premiums to choose from. Go pledge here. Pick me up some of these 'cause I can't afford to get all the ones I want (obviously).

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://wfmu.org/marathon/pledge.php" target="_blank"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;img height="156" width="150" src="http://wfmu.org/marathon/images/tl/insta_marathon_badge_150x156.png" alt="Pledge to the WFMU Marathon!" border="0" style="padding: 6px 6px 6px 6px; margin:0;"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

No TrendTeen Love [EP] - 1983

2011-03-01T00:08:00.004-05:00

"I WAS BORN READY, MUTHAFUCKA!!!!!"

Here is more from DC's No Trend. Did you like the last one I posted? If so, you'll like this. If not you'll think it's really annoying punk rock music. Even for punk rock music.

Man these guys really hate everything, huh? Good. That's where punk rock music should come from, right? It's very easy to see why these guys were ostracized from every scene. Just read this account from the NY Press website.

"We’d play ‘Mindless Little Insects’ and I’d walk around with a mirror and put it in people’s faces. We came out with a big drop cloth that had wet paint running down it at Danceteria. For some reason, I had my body wrapped in aluminum foil and covered with shaving cream. We had the strobe light going and I was just this giant, reflective white blob running around behind this clouded plastic with dripping paint. Of course, as I crashed into that, the whole thing came down on all these people in their best little new-wave outfits."

NOW THAT'S PUNK! All those Dischord Records band got nuthin' on No Trend.

Thanks to Brainpang for hookin' me up with this one.....

Track listing:

Side A:
1. Mass Sterilization Caused By Venereal Disease
2. Cancer
3. Die

Side B:
1. Teen Love
2. (untitled)

Download Too Many Humans from DivShare (64.82 MB)

The Joe Harriott Double QuintetIndo-Jazz Suite - 1966

2011-02-26T02:14:00.005-05:00

I was listening to the show Give The Drummer Some on WFMU this morning and heard a cut from Joe Harriott and Amancio D'Silva's sublime Hum-Dono album. Unfortunately I don't own it so I can't post it, but I can offer an equally awesome album until someone gets me a copy.

This is Joe Harriott's Quintet playing Indian Ragas with John Mayer's Quartet (plus a flutist; hence the double quintet moniker). These aren't your average Raga's though. Yeah, you have a Sitar droning the tonic and tablas playing their groups of 2's and 3's, but you also have free form drums, piano and bass pounding out a 4 beat along with it. It's really something special. At times it sounds a little derivative but you have to keep in mind that this is where it was all figured out. This isn't what's derivative, it's where everything is derived from.

Download and get yer Raga going.....

Track listing:

Side A:
1. Overture
2. Contrasts

Side B:
1. Raga Megha
2. Raga Gaud-Saranga

Download Indo-Jazz Suite from DivShare (69.46 MB)

No TrendToo Many Humans... - 1984

2011-02-20T19:47:00.012-05:00

So I really don't know much about these guys. My good friend, Brainpang, gave me this and another No Trend album to digitize for him. Pretty much anything he's ever handed to me has been awesome so, of course, this is too.

This is what Flipper would sound like if they were involved in the DC punk scene. Awesome, right? The only difference is that Flipper comes off as trying to be annoying while No Trend is just tough. Flipper was having a good time; these guys are pissed off. But i guess there was a lot to be angry about in DC in the early 80s.

If you want more info check out this page over at NY Press. There is quite a bit more over there than I could ever say about this band.

Track listing:

Side A:
1. Family Style
2. Blow Dry
3. Kiss Ass To Your Peer Group
4. Fashion Tips For The 80's
5. Do As You're Told

Side B:
1. Too Many Humans
2. For The Fun Of It All
3. Mindless Little insects
4. Happiness Is...

Download Too Many Humans from DivShare (64.82 MB)

Best of 2010

2011-02-19T10:58:00.004-05:00

I promise I'll be back to posting soon but in the meantime here is my list of favorite albums of the last year, in alphabetical order.:

Albert Beger Electroacoustic Band - Peacemaker [Skronky post-bop/free-form jazz from Turkey-born Israel-based saxophonist]

Budos Band - III [Hummable tunes and brooding horn lines from the best of the Brooklyn based Afrobeat revivalists]

Burzum - Belus [The most infamous man in Norwegian black metal returns to form after serving out his prison sentence for MURDER! Don't give him any money. Steal this from the internet.]

Deathspell Omega - Paracletus [Brütal, soaring and noisy French avant-garde black metal]

Ebo Taylor - Love and Death [Legendary 74 year old hi-life guitarist from Ghana is back to show the kids how it's done]

Ghostface Killah - Apollo Kids [Former Wu-Tang Clan member and critic's favorite turns out a record that's actually worth the hype. Featuring the best Spongebob reference in all of hip-hop]

Mugison - Ítrekun - Tekið Upp í Sundlauginni Janúar [Rockin' live album from Icelandic singer/songwriter's full band]

Sade - Soldier Of Love [Gorgeous and haunting UK R&B/Trip-Hop]

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - I Learned The Hard Way [Sassy soul with big band orchestration from the most well-known group on Brooklyn's Daptone label]

Shibusa-Shirazu Orchestra and Kuricorder Quartet - Namashibukuri/Wareshibukuri [Over sized psychedelic Japanese 3rd stream orchestra and a recorder quartet taking turns playing Yoshiyuki Kawaguchi's songbook]

Sigh - Scenes From Hell [Seminal Japanese black metalers create their most ambitious album yet. Orchestral gypsy jazz rock metal]

honorable mentions:

Manorexia - The Mesopelagic Waters [NYC No-Waver, JG Thirlwell's neo-classical, minimalistic chamber music]

Huun Huur Tu - Ancestors Call [Tuva's traditionalist lose the electronics and bring back folk sounds. Lots of overtone/throat-singing]

Daft Punk - TRON Legacy Soundtrack [Helmeted French dudes' soundtrack was way better than the movie. Lots of driving synths with a cool exploitation/horror feeling to it.]

-------------------------------------------------------------------

And the lifetime achievement award go to The Melvins for consistently putting out good or great albums for over 25 years.

NegativaNegativa [EP] - 2006

2011-02-10T12:10:00.010-05:00

So it looks like this is out of print now.

I'm not sure at all why this isn't a Gorguts album but it isn't. It's Luc and Steeve's new band but it really just sounds like a continuation of where they left off. There is some ambient stretches and some parts that are almost rock n roll, but really nothing that would have been out of place on a new Gorguts record. Even more confusing is the fact that they are now touring as Gorguts. I just don't get it. There wasn't really any danger of alienating their audience, they already did that in 2001 with their amazing Obscura album).

No matter what, it's a pretty cool little EP. If you liked the last two Gorguts albums you like this enough. Honestly, Obscura and From Wisdom To Hate are better, but this is still worth purchasing if you can find it.

Download and Enjoy!

Track listing:

from CD:
1. Chaos In Motion
2. Taedium Vitae
3. Rebellion

Download Negativa from DivShare (45.70 MB)

The TemptationsWings Of Love - 1976

2010-11-26T00:01:00.000-05:00

THANK GOD IT'S SLY-DAY!!!!!!

Sly?!!?! What'dya mean? This is a Temps record. Sly ain't anywhere on it?

WRONG!!!! maybe..... There is some discrepancy around this record. I'm going to present the case for Sly being a part of this record because I want him to be.

1976 Sly Stone was in trouble, but then again when wasn't he in trouble? The Family Stone was done and so was Sly's commercial success. The Temptations were in the same boat. Sales had been slumping for a while and with Norman Whitfield out the picture Motown was looking for someone to replace him as producer. Sly was trying to get his sister, Rose, a record deal with Motown so he made a trade; Motown would put out Rose Banks' record and he'd assemble The Family Stone for a Temps record. It seems he only really worked on the first side of the record though.

I've heard that he used the name Truman Thomas to avoid paying taxes on any money made from record sales. It's just crazy enough to be something Sly would do.

But Truman Thomas could also be Jackie Wilson's organist.....

This is one of those records whose first side is funky and the other is sweet. Side one is great. It's probably one of the last consistently amazing things Sly has done. The other side is, well....hmmm. I like it. It's good. It's got this epic 'prog' kind of feel to it, but is it the Temptations?

judge for yourself...

Track listing:

Side A:
1. Sweet Gypsy jane
2. Sweetness In The Dark
3. Shakey Ground
4. Up The Creek (Without A Paddle)
5. China Doll

Side B:
1. Mary Ann
2. Dream World (Wings Of Love)
3. Paradise

Download Wings Of Love from DivShare (28.00 MB)

Sly & The Family StoneAin't But The One Way - 1982

2010-11-19T00:01:00.000-05:00

THANK GOD IT'S SLY-DAY!!!!!!

This is Sly's last album. period. He didn't even really finish this one, so I can't imagine he'd be slightly interested in even thinking about doing another.

Sly had been accepted into the P-Funk fold by this point and after their work together on War Babies, George was slated to produce a record and get both musicians back on Warner Brother's good graces. When the shit went down between Warner Bothers and Brother George, Sly just disappeared. Gone. That was it.

WB then called in Stewart Levine to try to make a record out of what was recorded. I don't think he did too bad of a job. It's probably easier to produce a Sly record without Sly. Some of this record gets bogged down by Stewie trying to apply a glossy disco sound to Sly's drug induced ramblings, but it still, deep down in the grooves, feels like a Sly record; More so than the previous two, if you ask me.

It would have been interesting to hear this if it was recorded as more of a collaboration with George Clinton, eh.?

Track listing:

Side A:
1. L.O.V.I.N.U.
2. One Way
3. Ha Ha, Hee Hee
4. Hobo Ken

Side B:
1. Who In The Funk Do You Think You Are
2. You Really Got Me
3. Sylvester
4. We Can Do It
5. High, Y'all

Download Ain't But The One Way from DivShare (30.95 MB)

Sly & The Family StoneBack On The Right Track - 1979

2010-11-12T00:01:00.000-05:00

THANK GOD IT'S SLY-DAY!!!!!!

So this was supposed to be a comeback album, right? Wasn't the last one, too? I don't know what this was trying to get back to, but it's not the classic Family Stone sound. Not that this a bad record by any means, it's just tough to consider it a comeback. It's not even a Family Stone album, even though it does have some 'family' members. Warner Brothers just labeled it as such in hopes of selling more albums

This later Sly stuff is good, but lacks the 'sheer energy' of the early albums or the laid back, dark grooves of the middle period records. It sounds like he still has that dark fear, paranoia and disillusionment that came up with Riot, but knows that sounding more upbeat will be better for his career. For some reason I think High On You works much better than this record. Maybe it's because he was revitalized a little bit by not being billed as The Family Stone.

All that aside, there are some tight funk tracks on this one. Actually, pretty much all of it is fun and grooves pretty hard. The problem is we know what masterpieces came before it.

Track listing:

Side A:
1. Remember Who You Are
2. Back On The Right Track
3. If It's Not Addin' Up...
4. The Same Thing (Makes You Laugh, Makes You Cry)

Side B:
1. Shine It On
2. It Takes All Kinds
3. Who's To Say?
4. Sheer Energy

Download Back On The Right Track from DivShare (23.71 MB)

Bill CosbyDisco Bill - 1977

2010-10-25T00:01:00.001-04:00

There is a reason this was The Coz's last "singing" album (until the '90s, anyway). I'm pretty sure this one is supposed to be funny, but I could be wrong.

Aside from long-time-Cosby-collaborator Stu Gardner and Wah Wah Watson, there really aren't any names of note on this. Even the writing credits are all Cosby-Gardner, except "One, Two, Three", which might be a Holland-Dozier-Holland song or might be a Len Barry song. None of that matters because Bill really does a very loose cover and ends up making the song all his own.

Yeah, this is a novelty record, but I really find myself listening to it quite often. It makes me laugh and makes me wanna groove. Tell me "Section #9" isn't a little bit funky. "Boogie On Your Face", "What Ya Think 'Bout Lickin' My Chicken" and the Barry White style talk down of "A Simple Love Affair" all make me laugh out loud.

If anyone out there is getting rid of (or selling) a copy of Badfoot Brown & the Bunions Bradford Funeral Marching Band LP please let me know. I should like to purchase it, maybe?

Let's Boogie.

Track listing:

Side A:
1. A Simple Love Affair
2. What Ya Think 'Bout Lickin' My Chicken
3. Rudy
4. Boogie on Your Face
5. Happy Birthday Momma

Side B:
1. That's How I Met Your Mother
2. One, Two, Three
3. Section #9
4. A Nasty Birthday
5. What's in a Slang

Download Disco Bill from DivShare (34.52 MB)

Doug Clark & The NutsBaby Let Me Bang Your Box - 1973

2010-10-23T00:01:00.001-04:00

This week is WFMU's 'Singles Going Steady' week to get ready for the record fair October 22nd though 24th so I'll be putting up a different 7" every day.

Here is a dirty song based around a double entendre. I guess it can be hear as a song about a guy wanting to play a chick's piano, although it took a few listens before I even heard the word 'piano' in this song.

Doug Clark & His Hot Nuts (I don't know why this label just says Doug Clark & The Nuts) were a R&B/rock band that would almost always write these kind of songs. They featured titles such as "Big Jugs" and "He's Got The Whole World By The Balls".

If just one side of this mediocre idea still doesn't seem to repetitive enough to you, don't worry. There is a part II on the b-side.

Download and Enjoy!

Track listing:

Side A:
1. Baby Let Me Bang Your Box Part I

Side B:
1. Baby Let Me Bang Your Box Part II

Download Baby Let Me Bang Your Box VO-633 from DivShare (4.23 MB)

Albert KingBreaking' Up Somebody's Home - 1972

2010-10-22T00:01:00.000-04:00

This week is WFMU's 'Singles Going Steady' week to get ready for the record fair October 22nd though 24th so I'll be putting up a different 7" every day.

Albert Kings' 'Breaking Up Somebody's Home' has got to be one of my favorite Stax tracks. Play it on a hot rainy night and you'll see what I mean. It just feels good.

The B side to this is not nearly as good but still worth posting.

Download and Enjoy!

Track listing:

Side A:
1. Breakin' Up Somebody's Home

Side B:
1. Little Brother (Make A Way)

Download Breaking Up Somebody's Home STA-0147 from DivShare (5.08 MB)

Maceo & The MacksParrty - 1973

2010-10-21T00:01:00.000-04:00

This week is WFMU's 'Singles Going Steady' week to get ready for the record fair October 22nd though 24th so I'll be putting up a different 7" every day.

The title says it all. PARRTY! This is a fun little funk groove produced and written by The Hit Man, The Godfather Of Soul himself, Mr. James Brown and features his (and sometimes George Clinton's) Saxophonist, Maceo Parker. This was released on most commercially successful of James Brown's labels, the People label.

Download and Enjoy!

Track listing:

Side A:
1. Parrty - Part I

Side B:
1. Parrty - Part II

Download Parrty PE-624 from DivShare (6.09 MB)

Jean KnightYou Think You're Hot Stuff - 1971

2010-10-20T00:01:00.001-04:00

This week is WFMU's 'Singles Going Steady' week to get ready for the record fair October 22nd though 24th so I'll be putting up a different 7" every day.

No, It's not "Mr. Big Stuff" but it might as well be. It's the same artist, it's got similar groove with similar lyrical content, hell it's even on the same album, but it's not the same song.

The B side is yet another song about someone named Jody. I just love Jean Knight's voice and shes sounds so angry on this one. She's yelling at her man for taking shit about her lover, 'Jody'. Ooohhhh-wheeeeee!

Download and Enjoy!

Track listing:

Side A:
1. You Think You're Hot Stuff

Side B:
1. Don't Talk About Jody

Download You Think You're Big Stuff STA-0105 from DivShare (4.58 MB)

Sharon Jones & The Dap-KingsI Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Is In - 2006

2010-10-19T00:01:00.003-04:00

This week is WFMU's 'Singles Going Steady' week to get ready for the record fair October 22nd though 24th so I'll be putting up a different 7" every day.

Once again the good folks at Daptone give us a rare slice of good ole' funk. This label is great. Buy lots of stuff from them and go see their artists when they tour. Sharon Jones has new record out so go order it. Or ask for it at your local record store.

Here is a cover of a tune originally done by The First Edition (featuring Kenny Rogers). I remember hearing somewhere that this was originally recorded for a KFC commercial but was scrapped. That might be completely made-up, though.

Download and Enjoy!

Track listing:

Side A:
1. I Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Is In (Vocal)

Side B:
1. I Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Is In (Instrumental)

Download I Just Dropped In DAP-1022 from DivShare (5.32 MB)

Wilson PickettFunky Broadway - 1967

2010-10-18T00:01:00.003-04:00

This week is WFMU's 'Singles Going Steady' week to get ready for the record fair October 22nd though 24th so I'll be putting up a different 7" every day.

Here we have Wilson Pickett's Version of Funky Broadway. I highly recommend checking out Bill Cosby's version of this song.

The thing that really gets me on this record is the B side. Wilson doing a Bobby Womack tune 'I'm Sorry About That'.

Download and Enjoy!

Track listing:

Side A:
1. Funky Broadway

Side B:
1. I'm Sorry About That

Download Funky Broadway 45-2430 from DivShare (5.08 MB)

MelvinsStar Spangled Banner/Detroit Rock City - 2008

2010-10-17T00:01:00.004-04:00

This week is WFMU's 'Singles Going Steady' week to get ready for the record fair October 22nd though 24th so I'll be putting up a different 7" every day.

First up is one from Melvins. Side A is The Star Spangled Banner. It's the version they were doing live on tour a couple years ago.

The B Side is them doing 'Detroit Rock Fukin' City'! Yeah! It's like the best band in the world covering the second best band in the world.

Download and Enjoy!

Track listing:

Side A:
1. The Star Spangled Banner

Side B:
1. Detroit Rock City

Download Star Spangled Banner from DivShare (4.67 MB)

Bill CosbyHooray For The Salvation Army Band! - 1968

2010-10-06T23:47:00.004-04:00

I really don't know what to say about this record. It's so strange, but not. Bill recruited a super funky band, The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, to play songs by some amazing writers (Lennon/McCartney, Dozier/Holland, Jagger/Richards, Hayes/Porter, Toussaint and and maybe some Hendrix) and does some silly kind of ad-libs over 'em. What's not to like? The whole thing.

I'm torn about if this is a joke or not. It might be Bill doing what Eddie Murphy said to Rick James; something to the effect of, "You can just do whatever you want over a funky beat and the kids will buy it". Just listen to his version of the classic "Funky Broadway", which he changes to "Funk North Philladelphia". It also might be the 'Coz really trying to be Funky. I keep going back and forth.

However this is meant to be taken, it is essential listening for anyone interested in anything funky, strange or celebrity.

Thanks to Frank for hooking me up with this one.

Track listing:

Side A:
1. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
2. Sunny
3. Reach Out (I'll Be There)
4. (I'm A) Road Runner
5. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
6. Get Out of My Life, Woman

Side B:
1. Hooray for the Salvation Army Band
2. Funky North Philadelphia
3. Hold On, I'm a Comin'
4. Ursalena
5. Time Brings About a Change
6. Stop, Look & Listen

Download Hooray For The Salvation Army Band! from DivShare (34.32 MB)

Sam CookeSam Cooke Interprets Billie Holiday - 1975

2010-09-12T13:25:00.008-04:00

Man, I never understood why people like Frank Sinatra (he should have made it onto Public Enemy's short list of people to 'mother fuck'). It's crusty old boring music with no life. He's sounds to me like he's asleep half the time. Now, Sam Cooke's big band themed stuff is all soul. Sometimes the arrangements and backing vocals are too standard for me but Sam's voice cuts through all that.

This record is pretty beat up so if you are looking for archival quality versions of these songs go look somewhere else. I think the hiss and pops add to the feeling of sitting on a porch during a hot summer's night; with a drink and a certain special lady-friend....

I picked this record up at the same time I picked up the subject of my previous post, Blowfly's Disco Party, at Chicago's Reckless Records. Needless to say, I recommend stopping in to one of their 3 locations anytime one is in Chicago.

Download this and you'll feel good about feelin' bad.

Track listing:

Side A:
1. Good Morning Heartache
2. Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be?)
3. Solitude
4. Crazy She Calls Me
5. Blue Moon

Side B:
1. Lover Come Back To Me
2. They Can't Take That Away From Me
3.I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues
4. Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do
5. Let's Call The Whole Thing Off

Download Sam Cooke Interprets Billie Holiday from DivShare (22.63 MB)

BlowflyBlowfly's Disco Party - 1978

2010-08-15T14:51:00.005-04:00

Oh, Blowfly....

This is another one of those really filthy records that I won't recommend to everyone. If you already know about Blowfly you won't be disappointed when you download this. If you don't know anything about him, it's probably for a reason. Like Hunter S. Thompson said about acid, Blowfly finds you when he thinks you're ready.

If you like nasty funk and disco songs about all sorts of depraved sex acts, then you are ready.

Blowfly's real name is Clarence Reid but was given his well known moniker by his grandmother who over heard him singing a parody song at a young age. She exclaimed 'You nastier than a blowfly!' and the tag stuck.

There isn't too much to say about Blowfly that hasn't already been said. He started out writing songs for various artists, including Sam and Dave, but really hit his stride in 1971 when he and some studio musicians recorded an album of sex-themed parody songs. Since no record label would go anywhere near it, he started his own label. Since then he has had a song on the Billboard 200 chart, has been sampled by countless artists and has influenced an entire generation of young rappers.

At the age of 65 he is currently signed to Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label and continues to put out records and play live shows all over the country.

Enjoy!

Track listing:

Side A:
1. Panty Lines
2. Prick Ryder
3. Nobody's Butt But Yours, Baby
4. It's Not Easy Trying To Dance

Side B:
1. What Am I Supposed To Do
2. Show Me A Man Who Don't
3. Who Did I Eat Last Night?
4. Can I Come In your Mouth

Download Blowfly's Disco Party from DivShare (26.9 MB)

Eric DolphyThe Copenhagen Concert - 1961

2010-06-29T19:46:00.007-04:00

Today is the anniversary of Eric Dolphy's death in 1964. I didn't get to have an Eric Dolphy Memorial BBQ this year, so this post will have to do.

If you aren't familiar with Dolphy and you care at all about jazz or avant-garde music, you really should school yourself. His name get over looked on the surface of jazz because he gets lumped in with 'that weird noisy jazz'. Yes, he did play on Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz album, but he is so much more than that. It's easy to dismiss his melodies and lines as free-form but he really has some great melodies happening. Maybe they are atonal, but they are still melodies. I really feel his brand of jazz is steeped in tradition. He may not be creating conventional jazz, but deep down it's coming from the same place. He wasn't trying to break down what jazz should be, just play around with it a little bit. His tempos and chord changes are too structured to accurately be called free-jazz.

He definitely came out of the school of hard-bop. Playing with Mingus in the early 60s and The Coltrane on his legendary Africa/Brass sessions in '61 made him a household name. While his releases as bandleader for Prestige Records are easily overlooked, It's his 1964 Blue Note album, Out To Lunch!, that really seals the deal with jazz fans all over (myself included).

If you've never heard this album and you are into Coltrane, Davis, Mingus, Coleman or any hard-bop, post-bop, third stream or just modal music in general, go get it. Plus, It was recorded in New Jersey! It's always in print and usually very cheap. Blue Note will never let this go out of print because it's widely accepted as one of their best releases. So go buy it. If nothing else, buy it for the beautiful Reid Miles cover design.

But in the mean time download this little rarity. The record is a little beat up, but Dolphy is on fire! It seem that the band, other than bassist Chuck Israels, is a Danish house band but they sound like they have been playing together for a while. Maybe this was part of a whole European tour they were doing together. I don't know.

One last thing before I go drop the needle on my copy of Out To Lunch! I feel the story surrounding Dolphy's death needs to be told. In 1964, right after releasing his most acclaimed album, again Out To Lunch!, he embarked on a successful European tour with Charles Mingus' monster sextet (an amazing CD came out on Blue Note a few years ago featuring this band) and then settled in with his ballet-producer wife in Paris to live the good life. One night he was playing in (or just visiting, according to different accounts) Berlin when he suddenly collapsed. He was a long time diabetic and had gone into insulin shock. It was the 60s and the hospital he was taken to knew he was a jazz musician so the doctors assumed he was on some sort of drug and just left him alone to let the drugs run their course. He was dead by morning. It's such a shame that he could have easily been helped and continue recording. Who know what he would have done next.....

oh well. Enjoy!

Track listing:

Side A:
1. Hi-Fly
2. Glad To Be Unhappy

Side B:
1. God Bless The Child
2. Oleo

Side C:
1. Woody'n You
2. When Lights Are Low

Side D:
1. In The Blues (1-2-3)

Download Copenhagen Concert from DivShare (66.88 MB)

Charles BradleyThe World (Is Going Up In Flames) w/ Heartaches And Pain - ????

2010-06-24T23:22:00.010-04:00

Ugh. With all the crap going on in the Gulf Of Mexico I feel like the world truly is going up in flames and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Nobody wanna take the blame. Here are two scorchers from Charles Bradley with The Menhahan St Band backing him up. They really need to do a full length together.

The first cut is a deep groove about the way things are today. I think. The Gospel Queens singing back up push this one right over the edge.

The second song is a sad, mournful number about the murder of Charles' brother. Heavy stuff...

If you like this please go buy it and lots of other stuff from Daptone. They truly "keep puttin' soul up".

note: photo from brooklynvegan.com

Track listing:

Side A:
1. The World (Is Going Up In Flames)

Side B:
1. Heartaches & Pain

Download The World (Is Going Up In Flames) from DivShare (5.5 MB)

Parlet Invasion Of The Booty Snatchers - 1979

2010-06-22T22:15:00.011-04:00

We're living in really sad times. Lots of important people have been dying in the past couple years, but few have hit me as hard as Gary Shider's death just a few days ago.

Gary needed no introduction and no words need be said about him. He deserves both those things, though. Besides being one hell of a singer and guitar player, he was also such a huge persona on stage. He also seemed to be the glue that kept The P-Funk on the one for so long. He and George met in the mid 60s but didn't record together until 1971. He quickly became an integral part of the P-funk camp and would be for the next 40 years. George aside, Gary had to be the longest active P-funk member.

Parlet was a vocal spin-off group from the P-Funk. It was originally intended to be The Parlettes, the female companion to the male Parliaments, much like Motown's The Primes and The Primettes. When things got funkier for George he shortened the name to Parlet.

So here it is. All The usual names; Goins, Catfish, Bootsy, Kid Funkadelic, Bernie and of course Gary Shider. George Clinton's only credit on this record is co-producing it and co-writing 3 of the 6 tracks.

You know it's gonna be good. It really is strange that this stuff isn't available to buy. Especially since you can buy all the Parliament albums for under 10 bucks a piece (except the first and last).

Gary's family is trying to raise some money to help with various medical bills and other costs. Please come out to a Funkraiser or donate through their website.

Rest In P, Gary...

Track listing:

Side A:
1. Ridin' High
2. No Rump To Bump
3. Don't Ever Stop (Lovin' Me, Needin Me')

Side B:
1. Booty Snatchers
2. You're Leaving
3. Huff-N-Puff

Download Invasion Of The Booty Snatchers from DivShare (36.7 MB)

Herbie Mann Muscle Shoals Nitty Gritty - 1970

2010-06-13T18:39:00.010-04:00

Well, I'm back. I got my record player hooked up to my computer, again. There's nothing like a girl in a record store to motivate me to get off my ass and do something.

I was at Academy Records a few weeks ago browsing to David Bowie's Lodger record, which I seriously need to listen to again, when all of the sudden some funky-ass shit starts playing. Academy has a little 'Now Playing' display and a Herbie Mann record was sitting in that spot. I thought "Ain't no way. That's the soft, fluffy, jazz flutist." I almost instantly recognized the vibe playing as Roy Ayers and figured it was most likely one of his records. I finished up my shopping over the course of the record and as I was checking out, I asked the cashier if that really was the Herbie Mann. He confirmed it and I made up my mind to walk out with the record. Fortunately, I grabbed it before the chick in line behind me, who was also eying it up. Nah nah nah nah nah nah!

So here it is. Herbie Mann. Actually being good. I want to credit a lot of the awesomeness of this record to the Muscle Shoals backing band. Eddie Hinton, Barry Beckett, David Hood (who never should have had children) and Roger Hawkins could play on a Bjork record and it would be funky. Add Roy Ayers to the mix and God Damn!!!

I've heard good things about this late 60s/early 70s Mann stuff, mostly from that dude at central NJ record shows who defaces Kylie Minogue 45s for me to hang in my kitchen, but never really picked any of it up. I'm sure gonna start now. I might even pick up that creepy Push Push album. Well, that might be pushing it. Ha! Get it?!?!?

Alright. Sorry. A great band, great tunes and a killer Beatles cover. Just click download. You'll enjoy it.

Track listing:

Side A:
1. Muscle Shoals Nitty Gritty
2. Claudia Pie
3. Can You Dig It

Side B:
1. Blind Willy
2. Come Together
3. Panama Red's Panama Hat

Link removed at the request of some money-grubbing soulless prick.

WFMU

2010-03-04T23:58:00.006-05:00

Seriously. Go pledge some money to WFMU right now. It's hands down the greatest thing to ever happen to the world. yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. Oreo's. The Cotton Gin. Hover boots. They are all shit compared to WFMU (except maybe hover boots, those are cool as hell).

For real. Don't tune in and drop out. Tune in and pay some fuckin' attention. Downtown Soulville, My Castle Of Quiet, 7 Second Delay, Nardward, J.M. in the A.M., The Best Show, Scott Willams, Strength Through Failure, Glen Jones & X-Ray Burns, etc.

It really doesn't get any better than this. Completely listener supported. That means they can play Captain Beefheart and Black Sabbath back to back at 7:30 am on a Wednesday. Or talk about the Kennedy assassination for an hour on a Tuesday at 6pm. Where else does that happen? Not NPR!!!! Click here to see the donation price breakdowns, click here to donate or just click here to listen. It'll be free all the time.

God save WFMU. No, he can't. It's up to us!!!!!!

Vitus Von Degen Via Dante Alighieri - 2009

2010-02-01T22:53:00.009-05:00

Posting an album like this is somewhat of an unprecedented move round these parts. This was never released on vinyl and is probably only a couple of months old.

Let me explain. I have been cutting back on my spending in order to pay off some debts (how mature of me). I figured with all the music blogs I subscribe to and with the addition of The Free Music Archive, I didn't really need to be buying records at the rate I was. I'm sure a lot of you know about the Free Music Archive and their blog. I'm not posting about the Archive so if you don't know anything about it read up on your own.

No; The purpose of this post, other than prevent me from putting on Otis Redding records and crying into a glass of gin, is to let you know about Vitus Von Degen's Via Dante Alighieri album. There. Now you know about him. Or her. Or them. I don't know. Really. I've just told you all I know about this record. As I mentioned above I've been getting my music off the internet lately and part of that involves browsing the FMA. Thankfully I stumbled across this gem a few days ago. The FMA's site describes it as "the soundtrack of an imaginery[sp] Italian Giallo from the early 80s. A tribute to Goblin and John Carpenter music." but honestly, I hear way more than that in it. There are traces of Vangelis, Burzum, Stockhausen, Angelo Badalamenti and even Afrika Bambaataa in here. It sounds like this record has been soaking in a vat of everything related to horror, Italy, electronica, drugs and fast cars for about 25 years.

Anyone interested in Old-school Synths should hear this record. This isn't your Giorgio Moroder main-stream synth sound (although i do love that). It's the Wendy/Walter Carlos, Bob Moog; hell, even Joe Meek evolution of sound. Whoever made this is in love with sound. Sweat dripping over little tiny knobs and pulsing fader lights on an old prophet keyboard. It sounds like what The Phantom Of The Paradise should have been.

A lot of this John Carpenter knock-off stuff lacks soul. I really think that's what set's this record apart. I can feel a person crafting these inhuman sounds; much like the feeling I get listening to Kraftwerk. Digital, but still alive.

Stop reading and click the fucking link. or go to Ego Twister Records site and try to find a link to buy this from them. While you are at it I suggest listening to the new Secret Chiefs 3 album Le Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomini.

I promise I'll fix the drunk typos in the morning. Or not...

Track listing:

from CD:
1. The Diesel People
2. Pulse
3. The Firenze Incident
4. Black Gloves
5. Liquid Drugs
6. Oath OF Blood
7. Countach
8. The Two-Headed Saint
9. Hidden Behind The Giorgione Painting
10. Pieta

Download Via Dante Alighieri from Free Mucus Archive (872.5 MB)

Via Dante Alighieri by Vitus Von Degen is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.

Vitus Von Degen / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Andrew "Dice" Clay The Day The Laughter Died - 1990

2009-12-11T10:54:00.006-05:00

This time of year is musically one of my least favorites. I hate hearing the same old Christmas songs year after year after year. As a remedy for this I'm offering up Andrew "Dice" Clay's train-wreck of a Christmas Album The Day The Laughter Died.

Okay. This is horrible. Seriously. Just horrible. It's an hour and forty two minutes of the most hate-filled, misogynistic, misanthropic, bitter, angry, sexually depraved, childish, immature, nonsensical and upsetting words ever committed to tape. This is not recommended for anyone.

Now that we have that out of the way, this record is fucking hysterical. It's laugh-out-loud-even-after-hearing-it-50-times funny.

The first time I listened to this I was pretty offended and really didn't think it was that funny. I get it. He's being gross. But then I found myself thinking about it a lot and laughing out loud. I found myself telling other people about the things Dice says on this recording.

Dice had released his first record thoughtfully titled Dice in early 1990 and quickly made a name for himself. Not necessarily a good one, but he was becoming something of a phenomenon, none the less. He was known and hated for his crude sexual humor, his even cruder and more sexual re-telling of classic nursery rhymes and his mistreatment of just about every demographic (except The Jews; could it be because Dice's real name is Andrew Silverstein?) It's some pretty dumb stuff, the not-that-funny kind. Maybe a little silly here and there; but, all in all, not really worth listening to.

His next move was either an amazing accident or a stroke of genius. Either Dice or Def-American Producer and Owner Rick Rubin, I've heard both accounts, decided to book a relatively small club, Dangerfield's in NYC, and not advertise that Dice would be performing. The idea was to get a group of people who would not necessarily be familiar with or comfortable with Dice's act and really lay it on thick for them. It seems as if it was fairly common in the late 80's to go to a comedy club, not to hear a comedian, but to just socialize, so a good portion of the crowd would just show up to see a comedian tell some safe jokes while they eat diner or have a few drinks. Things didn't really end up going down that way on the nights of December 26th and 27th, 1989....

The first entire minute of this record sets the tone for what will follow. Silence. No jokes. Just Dice lighting a cigarette, exhaling loudly and making some mouth noises (or probably doing that stupid cigarette trick routine). That's it. No Danish. From the proverbial word "Go", he is on a mission to be the last man standing.

I really don't want to say too much about the content of the record because the beauty (yeah, it is kind of beautiful) of the record is in the way it unfolds. It's pretty obvious that Dice did very little preparation for this show on purpose. He keeps all the jokes, insult and sex gags off the cuff, allowing him breathing room to let the show take him and the audience wherever it wants to go. A few times he tries to wrangle this comedic monster in some kind of direction with what can only be described as jokes that don't work, like The Catfish Bit. The thing that makes this record so great is that even when he falls flat on his face, it's still a triumph. The humor comes from how utterly stupid the joke is; and from how long he can keep it up for. The man is relentless. It's almost as if he knows he has no jokes, just a hook. A hook that after just one album is already wearing thin.

The Day The Laughter Died makes no sense most of the time and the rest of the time just isn't funny. Now that might sound like a negative comment to some people, but coming from me that is serious praise. The show meanders, stumbles and falls at times, but I can't stress enough how much I love that about this record. Arghhh! I really don't want to spoil any of this record. Let me just say that the payoff at the end is pretty unforgettable. I'm going to stop before I ruin this for anyone who might be interested.

Let it suffice to say that this recording is not for everyone. I feel a special bond with people who don't really like Dice and still think this record is as funny as I do. You've been warned.

Merry Christmas!

Download and laugh your balls off.

Track listing:

from CD:
Disc 1
First Kiss
Holiday Season
The Tree
Texas
Places To Meet Chicks
The Gift
The Divider
Personal Delivery Service
Female Anatomy
Under 2 Minutes
Kids
Mothers, Daughtes & Sisters
1990
Jerkin' Off
Milk & Shampoo
Laughter vs. Comedy
While The Cats Away...
What'll It Be
Pizza
Concave
Frozen Food
Disc 2
The Osmonds
Hot Mama
Turn-On Words
Rhyme Renditions
True Stories
Automatic Pilot
Dogs & Birds
Women Comics
Cigarettes
A History Lesson
Judy
Mother & Son
A+
What Did She Say?
Double Date
Multiple Sclerosis
How Are Ya?
Silence Is Golden
Hour Back...Get It?
Something Soft

Download The Day The Laughter Died from DivShare (118.32 MB)

Mephiskapheles Maximum Perversion - 1997

2009-11-23T19:48:00.011-05:00

Below is a guest post courtesy of Mr. Von Grimm of I'll Stop My Drinking When You Stop Being A Bitch. Head on over and check out his posts. I highly recommend the 'Letters To The Dead' segments. The man is weaving a tapestry of characters. No really I think he might be keeping people in his basement with the intent to create some sort of clothing out of them. If you don't believe me read the post below. Or just go to his blog and laugh your ass off....

mephiskapheles was a ska band from the early 1990's. as their name suggests, their lyrics had a lot to do with the dark lord of the pit, Satan. yes, ska music. you know, chick a chick a, chick a chick a,hup-hup-hup. you did that dance that looked like you were picking loose change off the floor. man, just shut your mouth and stop judging me. yeah, i wore a suit and went to bosstones shows. you think you're better than me? i will break your ankle, punk. HA, see how i worked that in there!? ahhhhhhhHHHHHHHH, you don't care.

Mephiskapheles put out three albums and did a cover of celtic frost's necromantical screams. i decided to review the middle of the three albums, maximum perversion. their first album, God Bless Satan, was a full out great ska album and awesome to describe to your mom when she was going through your things in your room. Maximum Perversion was a hybrid album. it still had elements of ska but heavily mixed in was a solid jazz influence. The band was always horns heavy, and that's not a bad thing. Devil trombones and satanic saxophones permeate the album and fully describe to you the essence of sound the band was vying for. going through the track listing, i remember thinking it hilarious putting on demon weed, then smoking pot for the first time in my room with my friend, while playing street fighter two. he was chun li and i was vega, then my mom bust into the room and i sold her on the lie that we were burning incense. HAHAHAHAHHA, shit, i can't believe i though i would win with vega! g-o-d-d-o-g! the highlight of the album is sate. turn it up. as far as it can go. it is two minutes and three seconds of fury. when we went to shows there was always some asshole in sweatpants and flip flops who do the 'adrenalin rush' part way too early. and not just once, he realized he got it early, then said it again, then the band would play it, and you hoped that while you were dancing, he wasn't in the darkness sweating watching you move. there were eight people in the band at the time of making this album. it was recorded on Moon Ska records who also released albums by the pietasters, the toasters, and mustard plug.
you know dude, you really need to stop. i will mash your face into a jelly. hey, i see an ace of base cd in your bookshelf, how about we discuss why you like to tuck your sack back behind your legs then do the buffalo bill dance in front of the mirror. i'd fuck me. no? ok then.

the band broke up shortly after their release of might-ay white-ay in 1999. they played with the blue meanies,the slackers, inspector 7, edna's goldfish, etc. if you saw these guys live then you know how good they were. please enjoy this album and seek out their others. hail satan.

Track listing:

from CD:
1. Attack Of The Geniuses
2. Break Your Ankle Punk
3. Bad Toupée
4. Satan On The Beach
5. Aliens
6. Sate
7. Demon Weed
8. Introducing The Yellow Passion
9. Foursome
10. Snack Pack
11. Plan B
12. Turtle Soup
13. Scram

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Patton Oswalt/The Melvins Chunklet Split 7" - 2006

2009-11-22T11:19:00.011-05:00

Today I'm offering up a quick little split 7" from Patton Oswalt and The Melvins.

Side A is Patton Oswalt's 'The Two Dumbest Cunts In The World' which pretty much consists of him berating a chick who is talking on her cell phone during one of his shows. A lot of it is him trying to figure out why she would pay to come to a comedy show then proceed to talk to someone else through out it. "Fuck you, liver!" Priceless!

The other side has two locked grooves of The Melvins' aural assault in the form of a Sonics cover, 'Boss Hoss'. It's a good little punk rock number that is given the Melvins usual shit-soaked noise treatment. Drop the needle and randomly get one groove or the other. One of the grooves is the songs in it's regular version, 'Boss Hoss'; The other is the song backwards, 'Ssoh ssob'.

Download and Enjoy!

Track listing:

Side A (Patton Oswalt):
1. The Two Dumbest Cunts In The World

Side B (Melvins):
1. Boss Hoss
2. Ssoh ssob

Download Patton Oswalt/Melvins Split 7" from DivShare (18.7 MB)

Z-Rock Hawaii Z-Rock Hawaii - 1996

2009-11-15T17:23:00.004-05:00

What happens when two kids from Pennsylvania, who are obsessed with dick jokes, drugs, studio manipulation and Prince team up with a seminal Japanese noise/punk/no-wave act? Z-Rock Hawaii is what happens. There are no other words to explain it.

Ween, the boys from PA in this equation, had gained a following by creating slightly bent pop songs; taking what could easily be a straight forward song and filtering it through a haze of drugs and 4-track studio tricks, like on their breakthrough album Chocolate and Cheese. The Boredoms (the Japs here), on the other hand had been known for creating literally destructive freaked-out no-wave nihilistic, minimalist music; like on their breakthrough album Chocolate Synthesizer. Where the two groups met is a mystery to me.

Where they meet up on this album, though, is actually not too far from what someone familiar with both their careers might expect. It really does sound like Ween and The Boredoms together. 'I Get A Little Taste Of You' could have shown up on either of Ween's 12 Golden Country Greats or White Pepper albums, if it didn't contain a vocal freak-out by Boredoms front-man Yamantaka Eye.

Maybe it's because I'm more familiar with Ween's discography than The Boredoms' discography, but I feel that Ween is the dominant force on this record. Don't get me wrong, though. The Boredoms are in full force here. Songs such as 'Love Like Cement' and 'Tuchus' (other than Gener's distinctly Ween-sounding spoken vocals) are definitively Boredoms, but it seems that the bulk of the songs remind me more of something Ween would do The Boredoms.

Ween creates music that is usually little homages to other songs, artists or genres. Sometimes they are obscure and sometimes they are overt. This record is no exception. Listening to this album invokes other piece of pop culture. 'Bad To The Bone' is a pretty much straight forward cover of the George Thorogood And The Destroyers song with Eye's trademark screaming and Deaner's tough-guy bar-band vocals. 'In The Garden' sounds like a Middle-Eastern lounge-jazz version of an Andrew 'Dice' Clay routine, while 'Love Like Cement' invokes thoughts of some kind of Butthole Surfers song. This record is all over the place.

Perhaps the most interesting song on this record full of them is 'God In My Bed'. It sounds like Ennio Morricone on LSD, which ends up sounding like it could be one of the Funkadelic spoken word pieces like 'Free Your Mind...And Your Ass Will Follow'; 'Good Thoughts, Bad Thoughts'; or 'March To The Witch's Castle'. While I am on the subject of George Clinton, I should point out that 'Sunset Over Osaka' hovers through some beautiful airspace just above Funkadelic's 'Maggot Brain'; while 'I Get A Little Taste Of You' sounds something like 'Jimmy's Got A Little Bit of Bitch In Him'. God Damn I love me some Funkadelic!

Download and Enjoy!

Track listing:

from CD:
1. Chuggin'
2. Bad To The Bone
3. In The Garden
4. Love Like Cement
5. Tuchus
6. Piledriver
7. I Get A Little Taste Of You
8. God In My Bed
9. The Meadow
10. Sunset Over Osaka
11. Hexagon [Bonus Track]

Download Z-Rock Hawaii from DivShare (80.05 MB)

Attila Attila - 1970

2009-11-07T12:05:00.010-05:00

For those of you who might not know, Attila was a 'hard-rock' band formed in 1969 featuring Jon Small on drums and some guy named Bobby Joe who though it would sound bad-ass to play a Hammond keyboard through some kind of Marshall stack. Jon and Bobby were in a band called The Hassles in the mid sixties together. When The Hassles broke up, the two of them decided to try out their psychedelic hard-rock chops. Thus Attila was born!

It could have been worse. The bassist from The Hassles joined Ram-Jam....

This record has been called "the worst record in the history of recorded music" by people other than myself; I'm actually just surprised that anyone else had made it through the whole album. Bobby Joe was so embarrassed of this record that he tried to ice himself by drinking furniture polish shortly after it's release. Thankfully, Jon was able to keep the rock alive by rushing him to the hospital. Bobby later commented "I drank furniture polish. It looked tastier than bleach." I'm pretty sure he just thought it was really cheap vodka, though.

I'm very unsure if this record is a joke or a serious artistic statement. Sometimes it feels like two kids who had achieved some success within one genre trying to have a little fun with music that they know very little about writing, but have enjoyed listening to. It could also be an attempt by confused musicians to grasp onto a budding craze in hopes of reviving some resemblance of a career. I really am lost. All around lost. I can't tell I like this because it's kind of catchy and rocks a little, or if i like it because I like to see musicians try and fall flat on their faces; actually, i really enjoy seeing anyone fall flat on their face, especially old people or babies.

At their best, whenever that is ('Tear This Castle Down' maybe?), Attila sounds like a lonely 12 year old playing Black Sabbath tunes in his room on a 'First Act' brand electric guitar while his mother yells from downstairs to "turn it down" and at their worst ('Wonder Woman') sounds exactly like Led Zepplin. 'Brain Invasion' might be the first, and hopefully the last, heavy-metal-calliope-jazz song I've ever heard and also a contender for one of the worst, or best, song titles i have ever seen. One can only imagine what trash, or possibly thrash, Attila might have turned out on future albums if Billy, I mean Bobby, hadn't married Jon's wife; pretty much breaking up the band.

Believe it or not, there are actually some slightly impressive things going on with the keyboards (the end of 'Rolling Home' and 'Amplifier Fire'). It's interesting to listen to how Bobby adapts the sound of a real band to just a Hammond organ and he does a rather nice job filling in the bass parts, Ray Manzarek style, too. I genuinely think that some of these songs could rock pretty hard if they were played by a full band and utilized a new singer; they could be better than some Kiss songs, like 'Hard Luck Woman' and 'Beth' (well maybe not 'Beth'). I'm considering putting together an Atilla tribute band with full costumes and meat on the stage. Any takers....?

Read the song titles, look at the artwork and tell me this record isn't worth 40 bucks! 'Cause it's not worth 40 bucks. Even if it's signed....

I've already spent too much time listening to and commenting on this album. Get it out of my head.

Download and try to enjoy.

Track listing:

Side A:
1. Wonder Woman
2. California Flash
3. Revenge Is Sweet
4. Amplifier Fire (Part I - Godzilla; Part II - March of the Huns)

Side B:
1. Rolling Home
2. Tear This Castle Down
3. Holy Moses
4. Brain Invasion

Download Attila from DivShare (48.2 MB)

Gorguts Obscura-1998

2009-10-14T18:34:00.015-04:00

First things first. This record was described to me as the Trout Mask Replica of Death Metal. If that doesn't grab you don't even bother with this record. It's hard. All around; the riffs and vocals are hard and the album as a whole is hard to listen to. Really, like 2 bottles of cough syrup hard. It took a while for me to really like this record. When I first heard it I had a feeling I would grow to love it, but I had no idea where, when or how.

So here the skinny. Gorguts put out their debut record, Considered Dead, on Roadrunner in 1991, right as labels are scooping up any death/black metal bands they can get their hands on thanks to the buzz generated by Norway's Black Circle bands and it's surrounding controversy. I've never heard this record and am not really planning on going out of my way to because I already know what 91/92 North American Death Metal sounds like (see Deicide's Deicide and Legion albums). The next outing from Gorguts, Erosion Of Sanity '93, seems offers a little more substance, but is still, if you ask me, tethered by the restraints of a genre. One that was on it's way out of style, at least according to Roadrunner records who dropped them in 1993, causing the band to pretty much break up.

Then in 1998, out of nowhere, vocalist Luc Lemay recruited guitarist Steeve (yes, with two 'e's) Hurdle, bassist Steve (with one 'e') Cloutier and drummer Patrick Robert and reformed Gorguts, making himself the only returning member. The album that Lemay, Hurdle and Cloutier wrote (pretty much) together, Obscura, would redefine the Metal genre by removing all expectations of what metal should sound like, both in writing and production.

This is one of those weird records that definitely is part of a genre but refuses to play by it's rules. The dissonant cacophony contained within these 60 minutes and 25 seconds can feel sort of repetitive and monotonous on first listen, but once you get a grasp on what is going on here you can really start to enjoy the almost free-jazz complexity in how this record is put together. Just listen to the guitar at the halfway point in 'Sweet Silence' and try tell me that isn't jazz, some H.R. Giger version of jazz. It's rare in the metal genre to find a record that is heavy, yet smart and kind of silly at the same time (see the Melvins for more examples); there is no way the vocals in 'Carnal State' are to be delivered straight faced. This is a record that needs to be swallowed and digested for a long time. I recommend letting it sit in your belly until it comes bursting out of your chest.

It's now 10 years after it's release and this record still sounds like it was recorded 5 years from now.

It appears that Olympic Recordings, who released this CD originally, was threatened with litigation by the United State Olympic Comittee (USOC) and therefore closed their doors completely, effectively making e-bay or MP3s the only chance to grab this record.

Download and Enjoy!

Track listing:

from CD:
1. Obscura
2. Earthly Love
3. The Carnal State
4. Nostalgia
5. The Art Of Sombre Ecstasy
6. Clouded
7. Subtle Body
8. Rapturous Grief
9. La Vie Est Prélude...
10. Illuminatus
11. Faceless Ones
12. Sweet Silence

Link remove by request of some douche in a suit

Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel Hole-1984

2009-10-10T11:45:00.016-04:00

I received an e-mail from Mr. JG Thirwell himself the other day politely asking me to take down the link to download this album. I have replaced the links with one that leads to Some Bizarre's site. They remastered and released this album in 2006. Please go purchase it from them. I know I will be. That being said, my original write up is below. Also, you can listen to a great Thirlwell interview on WFMU's Strength Through Failure here.

I originally didn't want to post this record due to J.G. Thirlwell's plea in the linear notes of his new releases to 'please respect the artists by not uploading this music to P2P services and blogs.', but after digging through his website (foetus.org) and seeing that this is one of his releases not available for download from him, I decided to put it up. Another factor was the amount of excitement I got from finding his Wiseblood work posted on Rocket Remnant's blog. As soon as Mr. Thirlwell offers this record it will be pulled down and replaced with a link to purchase it from him. In the meantime get ready for an adventure...

Today I am offering J.G. Thirlwell's 3rd LP, Hole. As with (almost) all of his releases, It's not distributed as a Thirlwell record. This one is credited to 'Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel', but this whole project, releases like 'You've Got Foetus On your Breath', 'The Foetus Symphony Orchestra' and 'Foetus Under Glass', have come to be referred to as simply 'Foetus'. Thirlwell, himself, starts naming them just 'Foetus' with 1995's Gash. Getting the names straight is the easy part, describing the beautiful, playful, violent, chaotic mess that is recorded here is not so simple.

Foetus feels most at home in that space between genres, without seeming like he's hopping styles just to impress the listener (see Mike Patton). He seems to exist somewhere between The Birthday Party and Raymond Scott, which comes off as a sort of stripped-down, twisted Oingo Boingo; picture Danny Elfman standing naked in front of a fun-house mirror (gross). Where there are hints of juvenile punk-rock around the edges, there are also traces of complex orchestrations as well. We hit Surf, Industrial, Metal, Punk, Neoclassical, Big-Band, Gothic and Electro-Whatever on this warped odyssey through a 24 year old Thirlwell's brain, not bad for only his 3rd album.

It's hard to pin down what Thirwell's output sounds like so it's tough to decide if this is a good representation for the uninitiated. There are a few things present on this record that do exemplify Thirwell's Foetus output. For instance, his usage of the studio as it's own instrument, the artwork's red, black and white color scheme and themes of violence, misanthropy, murder, mutilation, incest, abuse, failure, masochism and machoism all served up with a side of his southern-gothic, black humor. The taboos that Foetus survives on are the ones that Danny Elfman and Trent Reznor have nightmares about.

So download and enjoy!

Track listing:

Side A:
1. Clothes Hoist
2. Lust For Death
3. I'll Meet You In Poland, Baby
4. Hot Horse
5. Sick Man

Side B:
1. Street Of Shame
2. Satan Place
3. White Knuckles
4. Water Torture
5. Cold Day In Hell

Purchase from 'Some Bizarre'

Sly Stone High On You-1975

2009-09-01T13:49:00.021-04:00

Most of Sylvester Stewart’s post-Family Stone work seems to be wholly forgotten. I would imagine that if you asked most casual music fans if they had ever heard any of it, they might even be surprised to know that it exists. They might be inclined to use the words welfare, crack, arrest, seclusion, insanity, recluse, etc. to describe his career after 1975. Not that any of these labels are really inappropriate, but certain aspects of this time period seem to be overlooked. Names such as Funkadelic, Bobby Womack, Jesse Johnson, Bar-Kays, George Clinton (solo), Earth, Wind and Fire and The Temptations are what should be discussed. Sly didn’t really disappear from the public until 1993 (after showing up out of nowhere to be inducted to The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame).

That being said, I present to you Mr. Stewart’s first solo record. Now, I know most of his output from There’s A Riot Goin’ On onwards is pretty much solo work, but this record is the first recorded after the infamous 1975 Radio City Music Hall gig, after which The Family Stone officially broke up and also the only to not include the words “& The Family Stone”. Even though it’s not technically a Family Stone record, there are some familiar names on this record (Cynthia Robinson, Freddie Stone, Jerry Martini, Rusty Allen, Vet Stone & Little Sister, Sid Page), but I’m not sure how much of their contributions are just left over studio tracks from prior recording sessions. I know that the track "Crossword puzzle" was originally recorded in a different form for 1974’s Small Talk, but other than that I don’t recognize any of these tracks as outtakes from any sessions I’ve ever heard.

All-in-all this is a pretty solid funk record and, if you ask me, maybe even one of his best since 1969’s Stand! It seems a little more focused than Riot and less repetitive than Fresh or Small Talk. The opening track, and also the first single from the record, “I Get High On You” is a pure funk gem. “Crossword Puzzle” is way more than just a reworking of a Small Talk outtake and “So Good To Me” has a fuzzed out bass that really might be Larry Graham playing it. Even the ballads, “That’s Lovin’ You” and “My World” are outstanding tracks and any fan of Sly’s Hammond B3 Organ will get a kick out the instrumental “Green Eyed Monster Girl”

If you enjoy Sly please check out the new The Woodstock Experience album that Sony Legacy just put out and also, a site called Wolfgang’s Vault has an amazing live recording of Sly & The Family Stone playing The Fillmore East in ’68.

Download and Enjoy!

Track listing:

Side A:
1. I Get High On You
2. Crossword Puzzle
3. That's Lovin' You
4. Who Do You Love
5. Green Eyed Monster Girl

Side B:
1. Organize
2. Le Lo Li
3. My World
4. So Good To Me
5. Greed

Download High On You from DivShare(40.9 MB)

P-Funk All Stars Urban Dancefloor Guerillas-1983

2009-07-22T10:08:00.006-04:00

By 1983 George Clinton's Sprawling P-Funk empire had, for the most part, declined past what is generally accepted as it's peak years. Parliament and Funkadelic had already released their final albums and the entire U.S. funk mob had been dropped from Warner Brothers. George had released a 'solo' album, 1982's Computer Games, which was really just a collection of songs that were intended for a 2 record version of Funkadelic's The Electric Spanking Of War Babies the year before. After Warner Brothers had chopped the album down to one record (like they would do to Prince in the near future) George decided to move to Capitol Records and release the extra songs as a 'solo' album. Never one to just coast, George did what he does best; Regroup the troops so he could issue a classic FUNK Manifesto and continue the war to rescue dance music from the BLAHS.

Just looking at the back of this record, I could tell it was going to be a winner. Each track is credited to different producers and it reads like a P-Funk hall of fame roster. Some of the names are George Clinton (obviously),Gary Shider, Walter Morrison, William "Bootsy" Collins and Sylvester Stewart. That's right, The one and only Sly Stone makes a triumphant return to Uncle Jam's Army. I loved the little bit of work he did on the War Babies "Funk Gettin' Stronger" tracks, but it just left me wanting more.

This record proves that George did some of his best work in the years after what most people think of as classic Parliament/Funkadelic. The early 80s was really one of the most focused time periods for George. He had moved past the schizophrenic sound of Funkadelic and the silly mythology of Parliament and now just had one mission; Get some asses shakin'!

I need to point out that today, July 22nd, is not only George Clinton's Birthday, but also my own. If any one out there needs to get me a birthday present, the jacket pictured on the cover of this record would do nicely.

Below is the manifesto from the linear notes, complete with grammatical errors:

ODE to the DANCING TERRORISTS – REGROUP THE TROOPS

A declaration of INTERDEPENDENCE from the Urban Dancefloor Guerillas.

Attention War Babies! For the past two years the leaders of the movement to rescue dance music fro the BLAHS, affectionately known to the public as UNCLE JAM'S ARMY, have been forced to carry on their campaign against the fake FUNK from the lowest level of reality, going underground and choosing to shake the established music industry with hits where it hurts – on the dancefloor. And now as the war cries of "WOOF" are being shouted from every club and concert dancefloor across the ONE NATION, the people most affected by the system's onslaught of repetitious mind-numbing cow-like moosick are now totally stirred up against such trash. Most of all they need the FUNK, and nothing but the P.

So this militia of urban dancefloor guerillas have identified themselves as the true DANCING TERRORISTS, THE P. FUNK ALL-STARS. And although they might also be found as member of Parliament, Funkadelic, Bootsy's Rubber Band, the Brides, Horny Horns, et. al., it's still the U.S. FUNK MOB.

Now we make this declaration of Interdependence: WE NEED EACH OTHER. Become an urban dancefloor guerilla: Make your presence on the dancefloor known. So although other may claim to be cold-blooded, beg you to jam, or promise to make you dance, don't monkey around. GORILLA your way to the true groove, for only the P.FUNK can pump it up. We need you as a part of UNCLE JAM'S ARMY's division of DANCING-TERRORISTS, the URBAN DANCEFLOOR GUERILLAS. The rhythm of vision is a dancer and, in the face of our predicament, dancing– or not dancing as the case may be– is the biggest and strongest statement we can make.

We send this challenge to all the imitators and duplicators. THROW DOWN!!! Our Urban Dancefloor Guerillas led by the P. FUNK ALL-STARS shall thrash dance across the land, showing no mercy, snatching some booties but taking no prisoners.

WE SHALL PUMP IT UP!!!

Yours on the one,
UNCLE JAM

Be a DANCING-TERRORIST! Join the URBAN DANCEFLOOR GUERILLAS today and become a member of the U.D.G. Write:

U.D.G.
UNCLE JAM'S ARMY
444 Lincoln Blvd. #251
Venice, Ca. 90291

UNCLE JAM says: REGISTER!!! VOTE!!!
Be sure to save your proof of registration or future goodies.

FREE SLY!!!!

One can only wonder what the 'future goodies' might have been.

Download and enjoy!

Track listing:

Side A:
1. Generator Pop
2. Acupuncture
3. One Of Those Summers
4. Catch A Keeper

Side B:
1. Pumpin' It Up
2. Copy Cat
3. Hydraulic Pump

Download Urban Dancefloor Guerillas from DivShare(46.3 MB)

Disco Tex And His Sex-O-Lettes Disco Tex And His Sex-O-Lettes-1975

2009-06-10T20:33:00.010-04:00

Have you ever wondered what Sgt. Pepper would sound like if Paul was a gay hair dresser from the Bronx and John was a doo-wop record producer from Belleville, NJ, or if instead of discovering acid and eastern religions they found ecstasy and homosexuality? If they had been listening to Casablanca Records instead of Motown ones? Me neither, but apparently the answer is simply “better”.

I found this record in a pile of albums someone was throwing out and knew nothing about it when I dropped the needle on it. There is almost no (useful) information on the sleeve other than “starring” Sir Monti Rock III and Bob Crewe's name is on it as producer. It also features Jerry Corbetta of Sugarloaf (a surprising better name than Chocolate Hair). Bob Crewe is the doo-wop record producer I mentioned earlier and Sir Monti Rock III (born Joseph Montanez Jr.) is the gay hairdresser turned vocalist. It just gets stranger and stranger.

Really though, with a record like this all that other stuff is unimportant. The only thing that matters is the groove and the ridiculous lyrics. Just download it and listen. Go ‘head and try to get the chorus from 'jam band' out of your head. If you are not dancing along with this you are either dead or far to straight for your own good.

This album is available on CD but the awesomeness of this record and the complaints on Amazon.com about the sound quality of the CD makes me feel justified putting it up on this site. I sincerely hope everyone downloads and plays the shit out of this record.

"Come on, let your wig get wet!"

Track listing:

Side A:
1. Jam Band
2. Get Dancin'
3. Medley: Shirley Wood/Around The World
4. Outrageous
5. Jam Band Reprise

Side B:
1. I Wanna Dance Wit' Choo (Doo Dat Dance)
2. (I See Your) Name Up In Lights
3. Love Is A Killer
4. Boogie Flap
5. Jam Band Reprise

Download Disco Tex And His Sex-O-Lettes from DivShare(26.02 MB)

The Family The Family-1985

2008-06-10T23:22:00.019-04:00

If you are a fan of Prince's music you are very fortunate to have found this site. I have a whole bunch of out-of-print Prince records just waiting to be digitized and posted. The first one up is The Family's only record to date. The story starts when Prince's other musical outlet, The Mutha Fuckin' Time, officially broke up after Morris Day left the band in 1984. Prince, wanting another project to output his trademark Minneapolis sound while he himself ventured to other sounds, formed the remaining members into a group dubbed "The Family". The Time's replacement keyboardist Paul Peterson was re-named St. Paul and moved to vocals, while Jerome Benton and Jellybean Johnson maintained the roles of comic foil and drummer, respectively, that they had previously occupied. Then he threw in his tour manager's brother, Eric Leeds, on saxophone and Revolution guitarist Wendy Melvoin's somehow creepier twin sister, Susannah to take the duties of vocals, keyboards and banging Prince. Even though everyone knew, except some ugly, Marc Bolan wannabe idiot I met in Boston, that the band was really composed of Prince with St. Paul doing his best to replicate Prince's vocals and Eric Leeds peppering the tracks with some saxophone, he still felt obligated to add Miko Weaver's name to the linear notes to explain the appearance of guitar on a record performed by a band without a guitarist. He had them (somehow) play one show, shoot a stupid video and hoped it would be as big as The Time was.

This is one of my favorite Prince albums and, arguably, one of the more important in his enormous catalog. It's one of the first Paisley Park releases (I'm not sure if Romance 1600 was released first or not) and also marks Prince's first collaboration with saxophonist Eric Leeds and composer Clare Fischer. Prince has always used his other bands to either release music that sounded like things he had already done but still enjoyed doing or as a test run for new sounds he would like to explore. This record is more of the latter. Sonically and chronologically The Family falls between Around The World In A Day and Parade. Tracks like 'The Screams Of Passion' and 'Nothing Compares 2 U', use the same Beatles-style pop found on Around The World In A Day and could easily be at home on either record while 'River Run Dry' and Desire' start to develop the European, orchestral funk Prince would later exaggerate to create Parade. 'Yes' and 'Susannah's Pajamas' mark his first experimentation with the funk-jazz fusion sound that he and Eric Leeds would continue to work with on their under appreciated side-project, Madhouse and again in the 2000s with his own N.E.W.S. and The Rainbow Children albums. The two songs that sound the most like The Time on this record are probably the best two. The album opener, 'High Fashion' is a silly, funky story of a girl who's only concerned is the size of a man's bank account. Thankfully St. Paul is able to 'flash all that cash [he has]' and win her over. 'Mutiny' makes The Family sound like The Time's angry little brother. As a added bonus the song ends with Prince's infamous waiter character reprised from The Time's 'Chili Sauce'.

Even with the original version of 'Nothing Compares 2 U', which almost compares to the Sinead O'Connor version , this record still isn't worth the 85 dollars it's selling for on Amazon right now. It's pretty much a fact that when Paisley Park folded it was the last chance for this record to remain in print. Maybe The Family reunion will help fix that. Enjoy!

Track listing:

Side A:
1. High Fashion
2. Mutiny
3. The Screams Of Passion
4. Yes

Side B:
1. River Run Dry
2. Nothing Compres 2 U
3. Susannah's Pajamas
4. Desire

Download The Family from DivShare(45.7 MB)

The Melvins The End

2008-05-04T10:20:00.048-04:00

What can I say about The Melvins? They are perhaps best know for kick-starting the careers of over 9,863 shitty grunge and/or metal bands, including Nirvana, while still receiving little recognition themselves. Or maybe they are better known because King Buzz-O once tried to kill a rather famous roadie with a needle full of a black tar heroin and drain-o mixture the size of Avril Lavigne's arm. Or it could be because one of them most likely was The Green River Killer. What they should be known for is kicking so much ass that you should be blinded just for reading this sentence about how much ass they kick.

Seriously though. Enterruption records originally released this on January 1st, 2005 as only 100 cassette tapes and re-released the same recording again in March 2008 as a limited edition of 500 pink(ish) vinyls, although themelvins.net claims that the number pressed is actually 460 due to a printer's error.

Other than King Buzz-O sounding a little like Merlin The Magic Mouse on 'The Bloat', this live album recorded on May 1st, 2003 at The Henry Fonda Theater in Los Angeles, California isn't necessarily an exceptional live album. It's doesn't even have the distinction of being the best official live documentation of the band featuring Kevin Rutmanis playing his signature slide bass, that honor belongs to the most monstrous of all live albums, Colossus Of Destiny. It is, however, a typically solid live show featuring what may very well be my favorite Melvins line-up of Buzz Osborne (guitar), Dale Crover (drums) and Kevin Rutmanis (Bass). Download and behold the awesome rockingness that is The Melvins live.

Track listing:

Side A:
1. At A Crawl
2. Black Stooges
3. Night Goat
4. Revolve
5. Brain Center At Whipples

Side B:
1. Let It All Be
2. Hooch
3. Mobius Hibatchi
4. The Bloat
5. The Bit

Download The End from DivShare(45.7 MB)

Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band Bat Chain Puller

2008-04-29T20:11:00.011-04:00

In the beginning of 1976 Captain Beefheart (aka Don VanVliet) started working on his 10th album after failing to gain the public's hard earned attention with his two previous 'commercial' records. He formulated a retreat back to the studio with the musicians who remained from his 1975 tour after long time collaborators Elliot 'Winged Eel Fingerling' Ingber and Bruce Fowler left. The remaining band, which consisted of John French (drums), John Thomas (keyboards), Moris Tepper (guitar) and Denny Walley (guitar) turned out a brilliant, yet still mostly unheard record titled Bat Chain Puller.

The record ultimately got lost in legal tie-ups between Frank Zappa, who paid for the sessions, and the Captain's Manager, Herb Cohen. 3 years later, Frank Zappa still owned the rights to the master tapes for these sessions, so Don put together a new band, re-recorded the album and finally released Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) on Warner Brothers Records in 1978.

The original record remained unreleased and unmixed until the late 1990's when The Zappa Family Trust (now the rightful owners of the master tapes) asked Denny Walley to finish the mix he had begun working on in 1975. Even after Denny was finished with his mix, The Zappa Family Trust, for some reason, still chose to withhold an official release for this influential pre-punk record.

The unreleased and released versions, surprisingly, have very few tracks in common with one another; only 5 out of 12. Most of the rest of the original album was re-recorded and released over his next (and last) two records, making a straight comparison of the two albums almost pointless. As a whole I think the song choices and recordings on the official release make for a stronger record. The original band played his songs, in my opinion, more like a group of studio musicians than the later 'trained' bands played them. This is literally because this is the first outing for the entire band, with the exception of long-time drummer John French. No matter which version I personally think is stronger, the fact that this record documenting an integral part of Don's transformation from the commercial pop of Bluejeans & Moonbeams back to the beautiful abrasiveness of Doc At The Radar Station is being withheld needs to be rectified. Enjoy and share!

Track listing:

1. Bat Chain Puller
2. Seam Crooked Sam
3. Harry Irene
4. '81 Poop Hatch
5. Flavor Bud Living
6. Brick Bats
7. Floopy Boot Stomp
8. A Carrot Is As Close As A Rabbit Gets To A Diamond
9. Owed T'Alex
10.Odd Jobs
11.The 1010th Day Of The Human Totem Pole
12.Apes-Ma

For more information please see www.beefheart.com, the most amazing
Beefheart site on the net.

Download Bat Chain Puller from DivShare(45.74 MB)