THE MORLOCKS - "Easy Listening For The Underachiever" (2006)

 

Recorded in 2006, but it sounds like it was recorded in 1966, The Morlocks had that retro sound down perfectly, and this album titled "Easy Listening For The Underachiever" proves just that.

 

Retro to the max, even their name came from the classic 1960's film "The Time Machine!

THE MORLOCKS - "Dirty Red"

BOBBY BLAND - "Here's The Man" (1962)

 

In my humble opinion, one of the greatest songs ever recorded came from this 1962 LP titled "Here's The Man, by Bobby "Blue" Bland.

From the perfect horns to little drum break, Bobby winds it up, and lets it go for an amazing thrill filled two minutes and thirty-four seconds, and except for Bobby's name, there's nothing bland about it!

I will admit this song has one major flaw, and that's that it is just too damn short.

BOBBY BLAND - "Turn On Your Love Light" 

THE CALL - "Modern Romans" (1983)

 

The Call had a top 100 hit in 1983 from their album titled "Modern Romans," but chances are if you're under the age of 40, you've probably never heard it.

Biblical implications and anti-war sentiment, that's what this song is all about!

People have been writing anti-war songs since at least 1914 when The Peerless Quartet recorded

 "I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier."

The 60's were rife with anti-war songs like the classic "Eve Of Destruction" written by P.F. Sloan, and recorded by Barry McGuire which somehow made it to number one on the charts, and yet despite it all, the pleas for peace have pretty much fallen on deaf ears. I guess human beings are just not made to get along, but that has never stopped the poets and songwriters from trying to stop the madness.

Here's what Michael Been and The Call had to say about it. 

THE CALL - "The Walls Came Down"

THE GUN - "Gun" (1968)

You might be familiar with "Race With The Devil" from this 1968 LP by The Gun, or this amazing album cover by Roger Dean, but here's an instrumental tune that's a little more obscure but seriously cool.

I do admit that I like short songs, but I sure wish this one was longer! 

THE GUN - "Rupert's Travels" 

THE PRIMATES - "We Are The Primates" (1986)

 

As far as I can tell, this 1986 LP by The Primates was their solo effort.

This record sounds like it would have been a later Seeds LP but with more grungy guitars. 

 

 

Here's a flyer from one of their shows that I just put up on eBay for any of you fans.

"We Are The Primates" is a fun record with lots of songs worth listening to.

Here's one I really like because it is literally just my kind!

THE PRIMATES - "Just My Kind" 

WHERE'S OUR ROCKET PACKS?

 

Rich here. For those of us who grew up watching "Rocket Man" movie serials on Saturday afternoon TV, we felt that a certain promise was implicit -- in The Future, we would all have jet packs we could strap to our back, and fly. 

 

Once the Space Age started in earnest in the early Sixties we felt that if The Future had not quite arrived just yet, it was coming soon. But except for a scene in a James Bond film (1965's "Thunderball"), no rocket packs emerged in the Sixties. Nor in the Seventies. 

 

By the Eighties, the grumbling started: "Where's our rocket packs?" But and now here it is, over a quarter-century since the new Millennium began, and we still have no rocket packs. 

 

Hasn't the Future arrived, yet? 

 

Thanks to the Eighties alternative band Daniel Amos for asking the question that's been on our minds for 40 years now.

DANIEL AMOS - "(It’s The Eighties So Where's Our) Rocket Packs"

THE SINISTER CLEANERS - "Goodbye Ms Jones" (1986)

 

I've had this EP by The Sinister Cleaners titled "Goodbye Ms Jones" for a couple of decades, and I've never understood why this band from Leeds, UK was not more popular.

The lead song off of this four tune EP is a good one, and I think it should have been a hit for them.

In my world, this is classic and vintage 1986! 

THE SINISTER CLEANERS - "I'll Never Forget This"