The Stars Aligned

… on this evening, fifty years ago, in the Fillmore West in San Francisco.

As in the world at large, 1968 was a year of turmoil for the Grateful Dead, particularly as year-end approached. They had amassed a debt of $100,000 to Warner Brothers as a result of the ‘unlimited studio time’ deal they had sealed for the recording of Anthem Of The Sun, a hybrid studio/live album which, on its release, had garnered some critical appreciation but few sales. Similarly, the single of Dark Star was released and sold only 500 copies. They had started playing the new songs that lyricist Robert Hunter and lead guitarist Jerry Garcia had been writing and were ready to start recording them but, in August, there was a schism.

Thirteenth Birthday Singles Chart

I am listening to Lauren Laverne on BBC 6Music and she has Bill Drummond on her Memory Tape feature. His take on this is all about getting older, forgetfulness and the slide into dementia. It follows on from a previous Memory Tape by Hannah Peel, whose selection of music was built around her experiences with dementia, a central theme of her latest album Awake But Always Dreaming

Here is a link to the piece on Lauren’s site –  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/39Yr4PgdkljXn1mjFxsmJCC/memory-tapes-november-2016

Tuesday night family tree challenge #9

Apologies for lateness! This was supposed to be here last night but I was a bit busy yesterday and forgot to schedule it.

Anyway, last week I said that I had two candidates for the challenge and ended up tossing a coin. Therefore this week the challenge concerns last week’s losing artist.

The person I am offering up this week is someone who is surely known to everyone, because he was a member of one of the world’s biggest bands. He was also a session musician who played on a huge number of 1960s hit records and albums by all kinds of people. He doesn’t really need any more introduction because he is Jimmy Page.

There shouldn’t be any shortage of people and bands to link to this week and lots of different types of music too.

Here he is with The Yardbirds performing an early version of a song that became a live classic with Led Zeppelin.

As usual, there is a YouTube playlist, which is here and which will open in a new tab.

Spillyear 1964

There’s a surprising number of websites that will generate random things for you. I asked random.org to pick a year for us, and it chose 1964.

We’ve done 1963 and 1965, and there was a seismic shift between them. So let’s see how 1964 fits in.

Listen to the playlist

Give us your top 3 tunes

The Last Mystery of All

We’ve had everything explained to us and there are no mysteries left. Myths have been debunked, and the internet had analysed every cultural detail into meaningless dust.

DJ Shadow finds an unmarked record when cratedigging and throws it in a mix as “unknown song, unknown artist”. Anton Newcombe from Brian Jonestown Massacre picks it out a number of years later, puts it up on youtube, claims it’s from a sixties band called Smile, or Smiles, says it’s a brilliant tune. Says it’s called “I Am Just A Star On A Democratic Flag”.

Maybe it’s Newcombe himself behind the record, sounds like it could be.

DJ Shadow allegedly says “The name of the group is “Smiles”. I think it’s a group from Los Angeles, and the song’s dating back from 1968-69. Unfortunately, the writtings on the record are not in good shape. I’ve never seen another record. I remember Dante came to my house, he saw the record, listened to it. He will never stop digging to find that particular record.”

Someone listens carefully to the surface noise, to see if it’s genuine, or an affectation.

Newcombe denies it’s him. Youtube commenters fail to find any online record of the song. Some claim that Newcombe is not Newcombe. DJ Shadow denies his real name is Clive. Clive Shadow.

I post the song on an intelligent, popular music blog with very well listened contributers, and hope for some news.

The mystery continues, the plot thickens.

‘Spillyear 1963

At some point last week I think I read a quote from someone, possibly John Peel, saying that 1977 was the best year for popular culture since 1963.

What was so great about 1963 then?

Do you remember where you were when that happened? Did sex really begin between the Chatterley ban and the Beatles’ first LP? Were you at the Stones’ first gig (even though you were a toddler/not yet born at the time)?

Listen to the playlist here

Add your top 3 choices here

By the way, I’m worried we may be using up all the best years… anybody want to suggest a really bad year instead?

Spillyear 1967

One of the downsides of living in a tropical country is that, because it’s always summer, it’s never really summer.

To celebrate the summer solstice, let’s head back to the Summer of Love. Although hate-filled wintry tunes and songs of autumnal indifference from 1967 are welcome too.

Obviously an astonishing time for music. Were you there? Are you sure? How on earth are you going to pick a top 3?

Listen to the playlist here

Add your tracks here

Spillyear 1965

Is it Tuesday already? This challenge is making my life go by too fast.

I’ve been unsure about how far back in time we should go with this. Hearing people’s reminiscences has been every bit as fun as listening to the music, and the further back we go, the fewer of these there’ll be. There’s also the danger that we’ll end up with more of a canonical “best of” list, and fewer personal choices and offbeat discoveries.

But let’s give it a try, and see how it works.

1965. Half a century ago. The year that popular music began to change from light entertainment to the most vibrant contemporary art form? Maybe.

If you were there, tell us about it.

If you weren’t – well, imagine you were…

 

Listen to the playlist here

Add your top three tracks here

He Said – She Said ~ The A to Z of Japanese Music – The Letter E ! ! !

 

I am the letter E and this is my Teddy Bear ! ! !

She Says: Welcome back to our almost weekly series about Japanese Pop, Rock, Punk and Indie.  Life and love distracted us from the important things like He Said – She Said, But we are back on schedule again now ! ! !  This week we have a really great variety with tracks from the 1960’s to now and variety of Genres and even a boy band ! ! !  So check out the post ! ! !

He says:

“Life and love distracted us from the important things like He Said – She Said” Speak for yourself, dearie! ! ! 

I have neither ! ! !

Anyway, E, the most common letter in English and reasonably common in Japanese too, fortunately ( what is the most commonly used letter in Japanese ?). Which means there were quite a few artists to choose from. Here are some of them.

Truth And Fiction

Many of my favourite films of recent years have been classified as documentaries (The Fog Of War, Cave Of Forgotten Dreams, Inside Job, Beware Of Mr Baker, Nostalgia for the Light, Stories We Tell….) but the one that won the Bafta in that category last year takes the genre into brave, new territory.

In The Act Of Killing, filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer puts in front of the camera a handful of the gangster* paramilitaries who helped the Indonesian army torture and kill around a million ‘communists’ in 1965/66. He then encourages them to create fictionalised versions of their acts. Being still highly-regarded by the current regime, they are keen to do so and, being fans of Hollywood films, they use the language of the Western, film noir, the musical and the gangster film.

The result is a devastating, upsetting, mesmeric, often surreal, portrait of corrupted humans who are celebrated and still valued by a corrupt government. It is now available on DVD/Blu-ray and I urge you to see it.

*The label ‘gangster’ is worn as a badge of honour, as it is understood to mean ‘free man’. Hence the use of Born Free in the film.

Buried Christmas treasure

I recently received an early Christmas present in the shape of a pen drive loaded with the entire Buried Treasure back catalogue, and as Tom Petty’s radio programme is currently in its eighth season and there are 24-5 programmes per season with 20 or so tracks per programme you better believe that’s a fair old amount of music. I’m currently listening my way through Season Two and I came across this Christmas show which I thought you people might like. He does play two of his own recordings, which isn’t usual, but those of you who don’t like TP&TH can always skip those.

Happy Christmas!

1 Theme Song
2 I Feel OK – Detroit Junior
3 Merry Christmas, Baby – Otis Redding
4 Christmas All Over Again – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
5 Who Took The Merry Out Of Christmas – Staples Singers
6 Silver Bells – Booker T and the MGs
7 White Christmas – Otis Redding
8 Tom’s Mailbag
9 Christmas Comes But Once A Year – Albert King
10 Santa Claus Is Back In Town – Elvis Presley
11 Merry Christmas – Lightnin’ Hopkins
12 Santa Claus Baby – The Voices
13 Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin’ – Sir Mack Rice
14 The Christmas Song – King Curtis
15 Run, Run Rudolph – Chuck Berry
16 Red Rooster – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
17 Back Door Santa – Clarence Carter
18 Happy New Year – Lightnin’ Hopkins
19 Christmas Song – The Chipmunks
20 Feels Like Christmas – Al Greene
21 Little Drummer Boy/Silent Night/
Auld Lang Syne – Jimi Hendrix
22 Jingle Bells – Booker T and the MGs

LIGHT MY FIRE – THE DOORS.

Ray Manzarek died last week, he was the keyboard player with the Doors. I never met him but living in LA for 40 odd years I was always conscious of who he was, he was frequently on the air or being interviewed in the music press.
Around 1966 I applied for admission to the graduate program of the UCLA film school and was accepted. At approx. the same time, the Doors who were well known around town as the house band at the Whiskey, released their first album which became a huge hit and was played constantly on the radio. At the film school it was common knowledge that several members of the Doors were using the facilities after hours to edit a film. I never saw them but those in the know had tales of their nocturnal presence. Upstairs in the dept was a long corridor, 60 – 80 ft long, every 6 ft on each side there was a door to an editing room, which was about 6ft by 10 ft with only a 16 mm. Movieola editing machine, a film bin, a chair and a shelf: very basic, very primitive, though from those tiny rooms emerged many works of filmic genius. The word around the department was that there was a student who was a friend of the Doors who regularly signed up for an edit room and then gave them the key. We used those rooms day and night, I was editing one of my films with the radio on the night that Robert Kennedy was shot at around midnight at the Ambassador hotel only a couple of miles away. Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison were the two who were most frequently mentioned as being the film editors; I’ve never seen or read anything about the film they were working on but as usual whenever they’re mentioned, as in this week’s obituaries, there’s usually a line that states they were UCLA film students, I don’t think that’s actually true.
That first album ‘The Doors’ was released in 1967 and became a huge success in the US once the single “Light My Fire” scaled the charts, the album peaked at #2 in September 1967. “Light My Fire” was the first song ever written by Robby Krieger and was the beginning of the band’s success. The other standout hit from that album was ‘The End’, Coppola, another film student at that time used it for the finale of Apocalypse Now.
Here’s a clip from a 1998 recording of Ray Manzarek talking about the origins and the musical evolution of ‘Light my Fire, it’s very interesting how it came to be, particularly John Coltrane’s contribution, the boogie boogie influence and the Bach component, well worth a listen for Spillers.

A little vinyl to clear the air.

 

Some time back I spent a day digitizing a lot of vinyl, most of which I hadn’t played in years, it was basically much of what we on the west coast were listening to through the late sixties and into the seventies. Finny, another westcoaster,  just posted the Youngbloods on Earworms and and that was enough to send my off to my iTunes file to find some of those vinyl cuts, always loved the Youngbloods.  So here’s a short playlist, I suspect that many of them will be familiar, but you, like me might not have heard them for a while.

I think it’s what those square DJ’s call ‘A trip down memory lane’ or ‘A blast from the past’.

A good way to start a week?

Spill Challenge # ≥ [ x → ∞ ]

Our founder Saint Owsley & Little Ergot

The Asafareans (Ancient Mystical order of the Revered Dinosaur – Lahontan Branch) are once again holding their Memorial Day fundraiser concert at the Fillmore. An over zealous member has booked 11 bands with only 10 spots available. Won’t you, our parishioners, would be parishioners or even barely interested pagans please help us by picking one band to headline & one to go on next years list of hopefuls. Be gentle they’re all great folks &  just want to help others get their freak in order. Remember – Dinos are fond of a large aural space to frolic in so if you have speakers with a large set of woofers it’ll make them smile.  Play thingy on this side to listen to in a blissfully unaware state or play thingy with playlist for those impatient for knowledge on the other side.  Click gently so you don’t disturb the dinos.

Brighton Festival May 2013

The Psychedelic Love Orchestra are back

Forgive a plug but glasshalfempty came down a few years ago and we’re doing it all again. We’re in a new venue this year – All Saints Church in Hove, with a bar running throughout the shows, a new set on Sunday night – The Life Of Brian (Wilson) which is a history of The Beach Boys, and on the Saturday our award-winning concert Pet Sounds/Sgt Pepper for the eighth year running…Friday we’re playing a new improved 1969 Show (best pop of that great year) to support the wonderful thing that is Abbey Road, the last Beatles album (or LP as I prefer to call it). A 16-piece orchestra will bring these timeless albums to life before your very eyes and ears. It’s a thing of wonder and love
magicman
see also https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brighton-Beach-Boys/343338702433070

sorry I think those posters are a little small…

There’s always the Sun…

Winter sun through a window in Pamplona (C)lgconnolly

So with all of the excitement in the world of organised religion this week, I found myself pontificating (how apt) about the strangeness of it all. It was prompted specifically by some comment that I read about “primitive religions” worshiping the Sun – and for some reason that really rankled with me…

On the Water…

I’ve never written a post for The Spill before. Isn’t that shocking? So I thought it was about time I made amends and started chucking the odd thing on over here, as it’s nice to break loose from the RR confines when time permits and do something about what is lighting my fire currently. As I’m still getting used to the vagaries of WordPress, I thought I would just throw something out and use it to work out how to do the techie bits;  so hoping to work those out whilst writing this but hopefully still say something interesting….

Which Cut Is The Bestest?

It may be a song much used & abused by karaoke maniacs, bedroom youtubers, & egotistical pop stars but let us not forget what a phenomenal tune it really is. Cat may have sold it to PP for £30 back in the day – but which version of the three do you prefer? Or do you know of a better one (I have looked for a noisy indie rock version, and failed, but would love it if there was one in existence)?

‘Spill points are available, and there are bonus ‘Spill points if you can explain why Tom Waits is holding a bunny. caption the Tom Waits & bunny photo.

BEAVER AND KRAUSE WITH GERRY MULLIGAN, BUD SHANK AND MICHAEL BLOOMFIELD et al. from 1969.

Last week the Guardian had a story about a naturalist field recordist named Bernie Krause, a name I hadn’t heard in quite a while. He used to be a musician in California, possibly the first to see the potential of the Moog synthesizer, he introduced both George Harrison and George Martin to it’s potential. He and his partner Paul Beaver, also a synthesist and Hammond B3 organist, released a series of three albums for Warner Bros. starting in 1970, I bought them all, still got ’em. Paul Beaver died in 1975.
Following up on my recent Ben Webster post, here’s another, this time it’s Gerry Mulligan featured on baritone sax and it’s from Beaver and Krause’s 1971 album, Gandharva [the celestial musician] and was recorded in Grace cathedral in San Francisco.The title is ‘By Your Grace’. Also heard are Bud Shank on alto, Gail Laughton plays simultaneously two harps and Howard Roberts is on guitar; Krause is on Moog and Beaver plays the cathedral’s pipe organ.
The second cut, from the same album, was also recorded in the cathedral, it’s ‘Short film for David’, that’s Mike Bloomfield and Howard Roberts on guitars and Bud Shank on alto sax with Mulligan on baritone and Laughton again on the harp, plus B&K.
I’ve long thought of introducing the Spill audience to Beaver and Krause, so here we go, hope you think they’re as great as I do.

QUICKSILVER!

Here’s another from the vinyl archive; what we were listening to in the ’60’s.

He Says ~ She Says ~ Hello My Old China ! ! ! Chinese Language Music from 40’s, 50’s, 60;s and 70’s

“But Sakura ! ! ! Why I do I have to wear the ears?”

She Says:

This week we are moving in a new area for me.  We are going to share some tracks from an interesting period in Asian popular music.   I think that the Chinese are a maybe a  little like the Italians of Asia.  They tend to talk  a lot, are very funny, and are very romantic and nostalgic and this is reflected in their popular music.  The 1940 – 1980 period saw a huge change for Chinese speaking peoples.  The war and revolution in China lead to the establishment  PRC of course  but also Taiwan became an independant country and Hong Kong, as the last colony in Chinese territory grew into a wealthy centre for trade and finance for the whole of Asia.  Chinese language music was now developing in three very different environments, but some how there seems to be thread holding it together.

He Says:

China. Still, in some ways, a land of mystery to us in the West. So big, so many people. How on earth can you get your head round somewhere so vast, so different, so ancient ? We’d like to introduce you to some Chinese tunes this week. Many of them heavily “Westernised” and , therefore, somewhat easier on the ear than traditional Chinese music. Hope you enjoy them

I don’t like disco so:

Massachusetts by the Bee Gees. Bye, Robin.

Davy Jones RIP

I can’t admit to ever being a fan of The Monkees but I used to watch it fairly regularly, nonetheless. Corny and as contrived as f**k, but great fun. I suppose Davy’s accent made it more than just an American show, somehow.

And they did have some good tunes (although I’m not sure that had much to do with Davy). But sad to see another part of (my) musical history disappear. He was only 66.

I came across this curio a while ago. Goes to show, you don’t ever know.

 

Q: So tfd, how many times did you say you’d seen Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers?

TP&TH 2012 logo

A: No times
Q: So how many times do you plan to see them in 2012?
A: At least three and probably 4 times…

Because Too Much Ain’t Enough

1961

 

Rahou – Fairuz
Song To Woody – Bob Dylan
Kadia Blues – Orchestre De La Paillote
Fever – La Lupe
Love For Sale – Barney Kessel
My Favorite Things – John Coltrane