Today’s show is part of our Vinyl Junkyard series. We take one lp and we play it almost in its entirety with some associations that I get when I think about this record. Today’s record is a very special one in my little world. It’s a 1967 compilation record by Fontana records and it came out from what I know only in Netherlands, Israel and Yugoslavia. The lp contains 13 covers of the psych pop hits of the day, twelve of them by the uncredited studio musicians and two originals by Spencer Davis Group and Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick and Tich who were a part of Fontana records roster in Europe. The LP is interesting because even though it’s a clearly psych exploitation record, and even though the musicians are anonymous, all the songs are actually very well played, most of them quite faithful to the originals and in some cases maybe even better. You judge yourself. In any case, the record was very important for me, I grew up with it and whenever I hear songs from this record, actually these covers seem more familiar to me than the originals. They are so deeply carved in my memory.
Stevie Wonder – I Was Made To Love Her;
Fontana Studio Musicians – Let’s Go To San Francisco;
The Flowerpot Men – Let’s Go To San Francisco;
Fontana Studio Musicians – Creeque Alley;
The Mamas And The Papas – Creeque Alley;
Fontana Studio Musicians – Flowers In The Rain;
The Move – Flowers in the Rain;
Spencer Davis Group – Time Seller;
Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick And Tich – Zabadak;
Fontana Studio Musicians – Death Of A Clown;
The Kinks – Death of a Clown;
Fontana Studio Musicians – Pleasant Valley Sunday;
The Monkees – Pleasant Valley Sunday;
The Mindbenders – The Letter;
The Box Tops – The Letter (Single Version);
Fontana Studio Musicians – Jackson;
Johnny Cash – Jackson;
Fontana Studio Musicians – Good Times;
Eric Burdon – Good Times.
Today we introduce two new artists at the Little Lighthouse. Both are coming from Atlanta, Georgia. Vincas remind me a lot on All The Saints, who are also from there. I wonder what happened to them. We also have a new blues band from Atlanta, Delta Moon. Ty Segall is very active. Besides his brand new record with White Fence, he also has a new record with his own band called Slaughterhouse. One of the most interesting reissues so far this year is The Red Bird Girls Very First Time in True Stereo which introduces some of the most interesting singles from Red Bird Records for the first time in stereo.
Four old legendary rockers are back these days with their new projects. Neil Young once again got on his Crazy Horse and this time he covered eleven songs from the history of the American continent. Thus the title Americana. Howe Gelb expanded Giant Sand to Giant Giant Sand and a busload of musicians from two places on the planet (Denmark and the US), and made a new rock opera dedicated to his hometown Tucson. Ed Crawford (Fromohio) has a new band FOOD and a new EP Four Easy Pieces. Alejandro Escovedo is back with the new record called Big Station. Once again, the record is co-written with Chuck Prophet and it is produced by Tony Visconti, just like the other two previous records. The idea of this episode is to fill up an our by hearing some new tunes from Young, Gelb, Crawford and Escovedo and also recall their earlier careers as well.
It’s almost summer. The weather is warm, Sun is shining, Venus is crossing. It’s weather for power pop, it’s weather for the Beach Boys. In today’s show we review the most interesting power pop tunes of today and among them, the new return for one of the biggest inspirations for power pop – the Beach Boys. Mike Love, Al Jardine and Brian Wilson are back together with the new album called That’s Why God Made The Radio. Talking about the Beach Boys, we also have the new record for Nelson Bragg, who played with them for awhile. Then we have Pugwash from Ireland who can definitely harmonize like the Beach Boys. Golden Boys are not so close to the beach, they are from Austin TX and their new record Dirty Fingernails is one of the most exciting records this season. New band and a fine example of good power pop are the Successful Failures who named themselves after a Jack London short story and they come from New Jersey. Tom Oberon comes from Connecticut and he’s a one man power pop band called Oberon Rose. His album Wunjo is free of charge on his soundcloud website. Lemon Clocks come from Liverpool and they have deliberately old fashioned sound on their new album Now Is The Time. Sea of Bees are two ladies with esoteric pop sound and finally, Songs For Snakes come from San Francisco and they bland fine melodies with loud guitars.