Booker T. Jones of the MG’s fame continues a streak of new records with The Road To Memphis and once again he is in the great shape. This time he collaborates mainly with the Roots, but there are also other great contributors. Thee Oh Sees from San Francisco also have a new record, called Castlemania and a new compilation of singles. Peter Case also has a new compilation, this time consisted of rare recordings and it’s called The Case Files. Our good friends at Vacilando ’68 sent out another package and this time we pick out a new name for us, band called the Pocket. This is a project of another guy from that label, John Bisset. Check out our bonuses, both Mystery Train and Sympathy for Rock’n’roll offer fantastic tributes to Bob Dylan, who is sweet little seventy since yesterday!
Booker T. & The MGs – Mrs. Robinson;
Booker T. Jones – Hey Ya;
Booker T. Jones – Down In Memphis (Featuring Booker T On Vocals);
T. Rex – Electric Warrior – Woodland Rock;
Ty Segall – Woodland Rock;
Thee Oh Sees – Carol Anne;
Thee Oh Sees – A Wall, A Century;
Timothy Bracken Three-Way – Everyday things;
Peter Case – Banks of the River;
Peter Case – Anything (Closing Credits);
Lil’ Band o’ Gold – Shirley;
John Fred – Shirley;
Hawkwind – Urban Guerilla;
Mudhoney – Urban Guerilla;
Ron Jetson – Mrs. Van Saker;
Pocket – Ready To Go;
Angst – Colors.
May 8 marks hundred years of birth of the famous bluesman Robert Johnson. At least officially, as the exact date of his birth is unknown. But, the man’s influence on rock’n’roll and all other blues related music genres is impossible to measure. The majority of Johnson’s music was recorded between 1936 and 1937, long before rock’n’roll really had its name. But in 1961 his music was reissued on an LP and the young rockers embraced Johnson as a great precursor of their music. Black blues musicians of the 50s, like Howlin’ Wolf and Dinah Washington were a link, as they were playing Robert Johnson’s songs even before the 1961 LP. British rockers like Eric Clapton and The Rolling Stones followed and brought Johnson’s music to the masses. Still, two of my favorite Johnson’s rock’n’roll covers belong to the 80s underground era: Rainer Ptacek’s version of If I Had Possession Over The Judgment Day and Gun Club’s Preachin’ The Blues. But indisputable strength of Johnson’s quality as a songwriter and guitar player is not the only link to the rock’n’roll. His entire short life is filled with mysticism, charisma and myth that also became an essential fabric for a decent rock’n’roll biography. Today, we pay a tribute to that.
Several new records today… Kid Congo Powers plays nowadays with The Pink Monkey Birds and they have a new record out called Gorilla Rose. They also have a new single which they split with Hunx and His Punx (which we introduced in our previous epizode). Matt Sweeney and Bonnie Prince Billy also share the new single. Beastie Boys are back with Hot Sauce Committee Part Two which is their first album with vocals in seven years. New names today are Amanda Shires, a singer songwriter from mythical Lubbock TX, but now based in Nashville. Another band debuts at the Little Lighthouse from over in Nashville – Natural Child. We also have Raphael Saadiq for the first time today. The dude is a famous mainstream pop and hip hop producer, but now he has a new retro funky/soul record called Stone Rollin’ which I can really appreciate.
We are sad to hear that two ladies that influenced pop and rock music greatly from completely opposite directions passed away recently within a single day. One is Poly Styrene, legendary front woman from the X-ray Spex. This punk sister changed the music forever with the unforgettable opening lines “Some people think that little girls should be seen and not heard. But i think: oh bondage, up yours! 1,2,3,4!”. The other one is Phoebe Snow, a singer songwriter from New York City that also changed the face of the music with her first album in 1974. Many performers today, and not only women, borrow today a lot from these two and they will be remembered. Other than paying tributes to Phoebe and Poly, we also introduce a new female singer songwriter Bonnie Whitmore from Nashville. Sam Phillips is also back with her new album. Then we also have a brand new EP for Ty Segall, which entirely consists of T Rex covers. Another new name today is Hunx and His Punks, also from San Francisco, just like Ty Segall.
A ton of new records today… We have a new band called Sonny And The Sunsets. Album is called Hit By Hit and it’s out on Fat Possum. Robyn Hitchcock is also here with a new album called Tromsø, Kaptein. Steve Earle also has a new record out called I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive. Ad Hoc Detroit super group The Witches had put out a compilation record called A Haunted Person’s Guide To The Witches, which ranks as a seriously strong candidate for the best reissue of this year. A very pleasant surprise is the brand new collaboration between Susan Cowsill, Freedy Johnston and Jon Dee Graham in a band they call The Hobart Brothers And Lil’ Sis Hobart. The new songs are in progress, we got one from their website. We also have a new band today, Swedish hopefuls Bäddat för trubbel. I find it amusing how Swedish language when its sung sounds like gibberish English… Anyway, great stuff!
Today’s show is all about vinyl records in honor of the International Record Store Day, which was officially last Saturday. I stopped by the Blue Arrow Records and bought a couple of used vinyl. I wasn’t particularly interested in any of the special Record day releases, so you won’t find any of those in today’s show. The only brand new thing in today’s show is the B side of the new Fleshtones single which the band dedicated to The Ramones. This show is in honor of the vinyl and also we can only hope that the new records are as good as those that came out in the past. Perhaps I’m just hopelessly nostalgic for the old era, but in any case, it was fun to do a vinyl only show.
First half of the show today is dedicated to legendary punks and last Monday in Cleveland. On that day, we had two events that threaten to be the events of the year. First, at the Rock’n’roll Hall of Fame we had a chance to see four legendary Cleveland punks who returned to the city to promote their new books. David Thomas, Cheetah Chrome, Mike Hudson and Bob Pfeifer had a great chance to reconnect with their native audience and reaffirm their well known love-hate relationship with the sweet home of Cleveland. Then, at the Grog show we had a chance to see Mike Watt live with his Missingmen. They played their new opera in its entirety and it worked really great as a single piece without interruptions. The next set was a short but furious and unforgettable Minutemen set. It was one of the best things I’ve ever seen. The second half of todays show is dedicated to some new records that came out. Lords of Altamont have a new record and they covered The Litter’s Action Woman. Another great cover today is that of Kill Devil Hills song Drinkin’ Too Much, this time on the new record for James Leg, the front man of Black Diamond Heavies. Meat Puppets are also out with the new record called Lollipop.
Today we have two new records. Legendary Fleshtones have a new album called Brooklyn Sound Solutions and they are also playing tonight in Cleveland at my favorite club Beachland. Holly Golightly is also back with another Brokeoffs release called No Help Coming. Last week we introduced Middle Brother, and today we continue listening to their self-titled record with a tune that features Nashville singer-songwriter Johnny Corndawg. He’s a new name at the Little Lighthouse, so we also check out one of his own tunes. Other than that, you may enjoy some glam hits and sixties straight-in-the-gut rock tunes from our today’s playlist.
Today we remember Jet Harris, the original bass player for The Shadows. He died on March 18 this year. We also have two new supergroups today. Middle Brother consists of members from musicians that normally play in Deer Tick, Dawes and Delta Spirit. They have a great new album, which I think surpasses everything they did in their individual bands. The other supergroup is Obits, which consists of former members of Hot Snakes and Edsel. We know their previous album I Blame You very well at the Little Lighthouse, and now they have a new one called Moody Standard and Poor.
We have an exciting line up of novelties today. Black Joe Lewis is a new attraction from Austin TX, combining soul and garage rock influences. They have an excellent fun new album Scandalous. Another garage rock hopeful comes from London England: Little Barrie. One more band from London ends todays playlist – their name is Wolf People. But my favorite new band on todays playlist is the Turkish psychedelic combo Hayvanlar Alemi, which relies heavily on an excellent Turkish rock tradition of the late sixties, early seventies. Also, towards the end of the show, we have a small block devoted to springtime and gardening. We check all of that out on the playlist below…