RAUL DE SOUZA - "Colors" (1975)

 

This 1975 LP by Brazilian trombonist Raul De Souza is a masterpiece. It was produced by the best percussionist in the world, Airto Moreira, and it's just classy.

 

The great picture on the back of the record is simply Raul and his bone, and says it all!

RAUL DE SOUZA - "Nanã"

SUZANNE VEGA - "Frank & Ava" (2007)

 

Rich here to admit that despite my rumpled jeans and faded t-shirts, I do like glamour. It probably started either with seeing James Bond in his fitted tux, drinking and gambling and fighting Evil Doers without mussing his creases, or watching as each new transformation of The Beatles -- starting with their Pierre Cardin collarless suits on the Ed Sullivan Show and on through their Sgt. Pepper band uniforms. When I worked for a time as a high school student in Morris & Sons Clothing Store, I mistakenly thought some of that glamour might rub off on me. Sigh.

 

During their era, Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner were two of the most glamourous people on the planet, and their on again/off again romance was the stuff of Hollywood legend, with their drunken fights and break-ups often making front page news. 

 

And when Suzanne Vega, the one-time waifish folk singer, wrote a song about Frank & Ava as a metaphor for a relationship of her own, it definitely caught my attention.

SUZANNE VEGA - "Frank & Ava"  

THE CITIZENS - "T.V. Woman" (1980)

 

The Citizens were an early 80's British band. They had one album and a couple of singles before calling it quits. Their first single from 1980 was titled "Satisfy The Citizens."

Here's the B side of that record, a song about a serious breakup! 

THE CITIZENS - "TV WOMAN" 

APRIL MARCH - "Chrominance Decoder" (1999)

 

Elinor Lanman Blake, aka April March was born in New York, but she has a strong connection to France and sometimes sings in both languages.

The name April March is also the name of a Canadian rock band, a dancer, and a novel. 

An extremely talented woman with a great sense of humor, she is also a professional writer, animator, and illustrator, and has also used the moniker April Shitbird when recording.

Her release titled "Chrominance Decoder" came out in 1999, and here's the second very cool track from that album!

APRIL MARCH - "Sugar" 

JEFF BECK - "Blow By Blow" (1975)

 

It was 1975 when Jeff Beck came out with his album "Blow By Blow." It made it to #4 on The Billboard Charts which was quite phenomenal for a rock instrumental album. In 1970 Miles Davis made the charts with his jazz/rock album "Bitch's Brew," but the music on that album was no way near as accessible as what Jeff Beck came up with.

It was fun, it was cool, it was unusual, and one of the best instrumental albums ever made!

JEFF BECK - "Freeway Jam" 

REUBEN WILSON - "Set Us Free" (1971)

 

This 1971 Blue Note LP by organist Reuben Wilson titled "Set Us Free" is basically incredible. These aren't songs, they're musical adventures, and you never know where Reuben and his all-star crew are going to take you from one song to the next!

Let me just say it this way!

REUBEN WILSON - "Right On With This Mess" 

THE SONS OF CHAMPLIN - "Loosen Up Naturally" (1969)

 

When you think about 1969 San Francisco Haight Ashbury psychedelic hippie bands, the names that immediately come to mind are Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Big Brother And The Holding Company, but there were so many more bands than that, and one of them was The Sons Of Champlin.

Unlike the more prominent groups, The Sons Of Champlin featured a horn section, but they never got the recognition or the kudus that bands in a different part of the country, like Blood, Sweat, & Tears, or Chicago Transit Authority, aka Chicago, received.

As fate would have it, Bill Champlin, the singer for The Sons Of Champlin ended up being the lead vocalist for Chicago in 1981 for three decades.

THE SONS OF CHAMPLIN - "1982-A" 

WALTER BECKER - "11 Tracks Of Whack" (1994)

 

Before he passed away in 2017, I was lucky enough to see Steely Dan "Live' in Las Vegas at The Palms Theater, and I think it was one of the best concerts I have ever been to, and one of the highlights of the show was Walter Becker's monologue and introduction to one song, and it was at that moment I realized how important he was to Steely Dan's music!

Walter Becker was a very talented and creative musician and here's just one song that will prove it from his 1994 solo album titled "11 Tracks Of Whack."

WALTER BECKER - "My Waterloo" 

FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE - "I-95" (2007)

 

Rich here to ask if you've ever been in a long-distance relationship that required hours of driving just to see the Love of your Life? Back in the summer of 1973 I was briefly engaged to a girl who lived in the farmlands of North Dakota, 600 miles from me. On Friday mornings after working all night and with no sleep, I'd hop in my car and drive more than 10 hours to see my fiancée, only to make the long drive back home on Sunday -- something I was committed to doing because I thought I was in love.

 

There are a lot of things you see on the highways and truck stops on a long road trip like that, and back in 2007 Fountains of Wayne accurately captured the tiresome sights and sounds of Roadside America accurately, as well as the yearning that spur such endeavors.

FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE - "I-95" 

CHRIS SPEDDING - "Friday The 13th" (1981)

 

Wednesday the 13th will just have to do.

As a musician, by 1981 Chris Spedding had pretty much done it all! 

He was in eleven different bands, produced the first Sex Pistols records, and it was time to have some fun and show off what he could really do, like play the guitar in the styles of multiple guitar players including Albert King, Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix and a host of others, and do it all in one song!

CHRIS SPEDDING - "Guitar Jamboree" 

SAMMY HAGAR - "Marching To Mars" (1997)

 

I'm not a big fan of Van Halen or Sammy Hagar, but I am a big fan of this song with it's slinky guitar multiple changes, and driving drums.

I just never get tired of it because it's just that good!!

SAMMY HAGAR - "Marching To Mars 

THE BEAU BRUMMELS - "Bradley's Barn" (1968)

 

The Beau Brummels' first album came out in 1965, and by the time "Bradley's Barn came out in 1968, their shining star had pretty much fizzled out, but they were still making some really good music.

The soaring voice of lead vocalist Sal Valentino is distinct and unmistakable throughout this album.

In 1971 Sal started a new band called Stoneground with Steve Price and Cory Lerios, who both went on to form their own band in 1975 called Pablo Cruise, while Sal Valentino basically retired from the music business.

THE BEAU BRUMMELS - "Deep Water" 

THINKMAN - "The Formula" (1986)

 

"The Formula" is the best David Bowie album that David Bowie never made, or at least I think that's what Thinkman thought.

In reality, Thinkman was singer, songwriter, and producer Rupert Hine. 

Rupert produced albums by everybody from Stevie Nicks to The Fixx, Rush, Suzanne Vega, and Tina Turner, so I'm pretty sure he knows what he's talking about.

THINKMAN - "The Formula" 

THE VIOLENTS - Strings Of Hits" (1962)

 

The Violents were an instrumental group from Stockholm, Sweden who recorded in the early 60's.

Their first album came out in 1962 and was called "Strings Of  Hits." The first  song on the record was titled "Liebestwist" and was banned on Swedish radio because it was considered a violation of a classic work, that being "Liebestraum" by the composer Franz Liszt.

 

THE VIOLENTS - "Liebestwist" 

 They fared better with the last song on the record titled "Alpens Ros"("Rose Of The Alps"), which made it to number five on the charts in Sweden in 1962, but when it was released in the U.S., it went nowhere.

THE VIOLENTS - "Alpens Ros" 

AEROSMITH - "Made In America" (1997)

 

I love this song because it sounds like Aerosmith as a band playing in your local bar instead of an arena rock band of mega proportions.

I never get tired of it, it's just that good!

What a freakin' groove! 

AEROSMITH - "One Way Street" 

OINGO BOINGO - "Insects" (1982)

 

Rich here, betting that you know of the composer Danny Elfman -- and that if you don't know his name, you've surely heard his soundtracks in the past 40 years, including in more than 20 Tim Burton films. He's been nominated for numerous Oscar, Emmy, and Grammy Awards.

 

Maybe you didn't know that Elfman's been composing music since he was a teenager. In the early '70s, he became the music director for his older brother's street theatre art troupe, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, which by 1979 had evolved into an the 8-man rock band Oingo Boingo with Elfman as the lead singer and primary songwriter. Oingo Boingo's music was wildly eclectic with Elfman's angular compositions that careened all over the musical landscape while combining sophisticated arrangements and bizarre subject matter. It wasn't everyone's cup of tea, and though Oingo Boingo had a taste of mainstream success with "Dead Man's Party" and "Weird Science," Elfman's quirky ska-meets-new wave-meets-jazz-and-pop was more suited to a quirky new wave cult audience -- the kind of audience sought by Tim Burton when he recruited Elfman to compose soundtracks for his equally quirky movies, starting with "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" (1985) and "Batman" (1989) and to the present day. 

 

Meanwhile, here's an emblematic taste of Elfman's work with Oingo Boingo, "Insects," from their 1982 album "Nothing to Fear."

OINGO BOINGO - "Insects" 

SPIDER SONGS!

 

I didn't know until recently that the 1966 album by The WHO titled "Happy Jack," was originally named "A Quick One." Apparently the title was changed for the American version after the song "Happy Jack" started getting some airplay, and also because they thought the title was a double entendre, that might be perceived as something dirty or nasty by the general public. 

This is one of my favorite WHO albums, and also one of my favorite 'spider' songs all in one neat package!

THE WHO - "Boris The Spider" 

 

This is the back of Link Wray's 1969 album titled "Yesterday And Today," that included his song "The Black Widow." "The Black Widow" was originally on Link's earlier album in 1962 when he was performing as Link Wray And His Ray Men.

It doesn't get much more classic than this!

LINK WRAY - "The Black Widow"

Even though there are hundreds of spider songs out there, I'd be doing a great disservice if I didn't mention the 1967 film "Spider Baby Or, The Maddest Story Ever Told" that had music written by the incredible Ronald Stein. If you're not familiar with him, Ron Stein was the mastermind behind the music in films like "Invasion of The Saucer Men," "Attack Of The 50 Foot Woman," "Ghost Of Dragstrip Hollow," "Dementia 13," "Journey To The 7th Planet," etc, etc!!

The cherry on top is who performs this song!

LON CHANEY JR. - "Spider Baby" 

THREE DECADES OF MONKEYS!!!

 

I was going to write about songs with spider references in them tonight, but something threw a monkey wrench into my plans, and it ended up being songs about monkeys instead.

There have been so many songs with monkey references over the years.

Here's a couple of good ones, and speaking of monkey wrench....

FOO FIGHTERS - "Monkey Wrench" 

 

One of the most common monkey songs would without a doubt be the classic by The Miracles in 1963 from this album titled "Doin' Mickey's Monkey."

THE MIRACLES - "Mickey's Monkey"

 

 

There are probably hundreds or more titles out there, but I'm through monkeying around for now, and am going to round out this perfect trio with a 1951 single by "Stick McGhee And His Buddies" on the "Atlantic Label" that will rock your socks off.

STICK McGHEE AND HIS BUDDIES - "One Monkey Don't Stop The Show" 

STEWART COPELAND - "The Rhythmatist" (1985)

 

This solo record by Police drummer Stewart Copeland, the soundtrack for a 1985 film called "The Rhythmatist," which he also co-wrote, just shows you what an integral part of The Police's sound he really was. 

STEWART COPELAND - "Brazzaville" 

THE AGENTS - "Modern Girl" (1983)

 

The Agents were a Power Pop band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and as far as I can tell, their total output was this one single in 1983.

Sounds like a pretty big production for a one off single. 

THE AGENTS - "Modern Girl" 

BLUR - "Song 2" (1997)

 

Blur's 4th album came out in 1997, and was titled simply "Blur."

Oddly enough, the second song is titled "Song 2."

I've dug this song ever since the second time I heard it.

BLUR - "Song 2" 

LORD KITCHENER - "Kitch 67" (1966)

 

A couple of years before he died, Lord Litter confessed to me that this gentleman right here named Lord Kitchener was where he got the idea for his name.

Lord Kitchener, aka Aldwyn Roberts, was a giant in the world of Calypso. "Kitch 67" came out in 1966 and was his 4th album out of the 37 he recorded.

Here's a great song about telling a person to mind their own business! 

 LORD KITCHENER - "Take You' Meat Out Me Rice"