THE UNDERDOGS - "Wasting Our Time" (1970)

 

In 1968, this band from New Zealand started off as a pretty straight ahead blues band called The Underdogs Blues Band, but by 1970 they had evolved into something else, dropped Blues Band from their name, and starting calling themselves simply The Underdogs.

In 1970, they released this LP called "Wasting Our Time," and to me, it sounds like music that was ten or fifteen years before it's time.

I don't remember anybody else making music like this back then, and to prove it, here's a prime example!

THE UNDERDOGS - "Wasting My Time" 

NEON PEARL - "1967 Recordings" (2001)

 

Recorded in 1967, but not released until 2001 on the Acme label, Neon Pearl was a UK Psych band that was pretty laid back for the most part, but there is one cut on the CD that is a little more upbeat than the rest of the album.

 

Band members were Peter Dunton, Bernard Jinks, Nick Spenser, and Rod Harrison.

Here's a bouns track that will give you a pretty good idea of how truly unique their sound and style was. 

NEON PEARL - "Nothing To Say" 

D'DALTONS - "De Luxe" (2004)

 

Today is a special day, and that calls for some extra special music I think, and I don't think you can get any more extra special than this 2004 LP by the Macedonian band known as D'Daltons called "De Luxe."

It was pretty hard finding out anything about these guys, and I had to finally resort to a translated Wikipedia page, and even that yielded very little.

So without further adieu, I'll let the music speak for itself.

Д'Далтонс - "Пикавец" / D'Daltons - "Pikavec"

THE DUKES OF THE STRATOSPHEAR - "25 O'Clock" (1985)

 

We're all big fans of XTC around here, so when one of your favorite bands does an side project just for nothing but fun, well then, that's something worth talking about.

The cool thing is that these guys were big fans of vintage 1967 psychedelic music, so they decided to make a legitimate record that was true to it's source, and they are good enough to be able to pull it off.

This record sounds like it was actually recorded 18 years earlier. 

They played it all the way even coming up with new personas, so you have Andy Partridge as Sir John Johns, Colin Moulding as The Red Curtain, Dave Gregory as Lord Cornelius Plum, and Ian Gregory as E.I.E.I. Owen.

THE DUKES OF THE STRATOSPHEAR - "Bike Ride To The Moon" 

TOMMY GUERRERO - "Soul Food Taqueria" (2003)

 

Besides being a musician who has made 23 albums, Tommy Guerrero is a professional skateboarder, and if this one titled "Soul Food Tacqueria" from 2003 is any indication, Tommy is a very mellow guy. I think if you looked up the word 'chill' in the dictionary, there there might be a picture of Tommy there.

This song will clearly point out what I'm talking about.

The song of the American Buffalo. 

TOMMY GUERRERO - "Tatanka" 

THE DEFINITIVE SURF GUITAR SONG - "Miserlou" (Dick Dale)

 

Rich here, pondering what particular songs might be said to define the whole genre they represent, and as we reach the end of Summer, I've been thinking about Surf Music. 

 

Well before the Beach Boys started singing songs about surf and beach girls, a vibrant Surf Culture already existed in Southern California, and local instrumental bands were popular entertainers at their parties. But when one accomplished guitarist -- Dick Dale, himself a surfer -- started exploring the idea of what it might mean if he could recreate the Wet sounds of the ocean and the Roar of the waves on his electric guitar, he destroyed many amplifiers by pushing them beyond their limits. His playing caused such a sensation among the crowd that they began referring to Dick as "The King of the Surf Guitar." 

 

 

Dick Dale is most well known for his unique cover of a traditional Middle Eastern folk tune, "Miserlou." And while there were certainly bigger surf guitar hits -- "Pipeline," "Walk-Don't Run," and "Wipe Out" all come to mind -- nearly everyone recognizes the distinctive introduction to "Miserlou," a staccato burst that has been featured in countless movies and commercials. "Miserlou" is the song in which Dick Dale singlehandedly invented the template for Surf Guitar: lightning-quick double-picked guitar lines, an arrangement drenched in amplified reverberation, and occasional hints of south-of-the-border chord progressions and harmonies. Other records may have been bigger hits, but "Miserlou" was the one all the others followed in its wake.

DICK DALE & HIS DELTONES - "Miserlou"

A. MORE - "Flying Doesn't Help" (1979)

 

Anthony More, aka A. More, released this LP Called "Flying Doesn't Help" in 1979, and it's chock full of good music, but there's one song on it I've continued to enjoy for decades, and

this is it! 

A. MORE - "Judy Get Down" 

PLAN 9 - "Keep Your Cool And Read The Rules" (1985)

 

From the looks of this cover you really can't know what to expect from a band from Rhode Island called Plan 9, but they are a very unique group that cover a lot of different styles as heard on this 1985 album called 

"Keep Your Cool And Read The Rules," which, by the way, is also very good advice.

PLAN 9 - "Face In The Box" 

 

And also, any band that ever does a cover of the this song will always get an A+ from me!

PLAN 9 - "Machines"

PIZZICATO FIVE - "20th Century Girl" (1999)

 

Pizzicato Five was a Japanese band that existed from 1985 to 2001. They brought out this self-titled CD in 1999.

 

The main focus of this group is lead singer Maki Nomiya, but for me this song is all about something like James Brown would say, and I quote!

"Give the drummer some!"  

 PIZZICATO FIVE - "20th Century Girl"

CHRYSTA BELL - "Somewhere In The Nowhere" (2016)

 

 This song by Chrysta Bell and David Lynch from her 2016 release "Somewhere In The Nowhere" is one of my favorite videos of all time. The first time I saw it on "Twin Peaks," I was like, what in the Hell was that?

You've got this incredibly beautiful, and sexy gal singing a sultry electronic song in a dive bar, and the denizens of the bar are totally digging it.

 

 For me, this is Surrealism personified.

Nothing about it makes sense and yet it's all perfect, but that's David Lynch for you.

Chrysta is amazing and David really was a genius. 

CHRYSTA BELL -"Beat The Beat"

THUNDER AND ROSES - "King Of The Black Sunrise" (1969)

 

Thunder And Roses were a very hard rock band from Philadelphia, Pa., and this 1969 album titled "King Of The Black Sunrise" is just about what you would expect, except there's one song where they went off course, and did a tongue in cheek country song.

Country music is such an easy target, and it's a lot of fun to take a shot at it once in a while. Lord knows we did enough of them.

So put your boots on, mosey up to the bar and grab yourself a cold one, cause here's

THUNDER AND ROSES - "Country Life" 

MOJO JUJU - "Brother, Where Have You Been?" (2012)

 

Here's another interesting release from down under, but this time from 2012. 

Their real name is Mojo Ruiz de Luzuriaga, and they also go by Mojo Juju, and sometimes just Mo'Ju, and they are known for openly discussing their identity as an Aboriginal (Wiradjuri) and Filipino queer woman.

Besides all that, they are also an artist and musician who is quite talented as this song will prove.

MOJO JUJU - "Brother, Where Have You Been?" 

SUPERMAN (The Clique, R.E.M.)

 

Rich here to confess my fondness for Superman, whom I first discovered as a child in the 1950's watching "The Adventures of Superman" TV show and collecting his DC-published comic books. And though I basically ditched DC Comics and their super heroes (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, The Flash) when I discovered the more "adult" Marvel Comics at age 11 in 1963, I've continued to have a soft spot in my heart for my "first love," Superman.

 

 

And in this summer in which we celebrate the latest and newest movie version of the Big Super-Powered Boy Scout from Krypton, it seems a good time to revisit an obscure single from 1969 that you may have never heard, "Superman," by the Texas band The Clique.

THE CLIQUE - "Superman"

 

Of course, many of you might actually know this little slice of sunshine pop (that has a rather creepy stalker undertone) because R.E.M. recorded a nearly identical version of "Superman" and included it as an unnamed bonus track on their fourth album, "Lifes Rich Pageant" (1986). It was the first time R.E.M. had included a cover version on any of their albums, but it gave new life to the previously obscure song.

R.E.M. - "Superman" 

BACHMAN AND TURNER - "Rolling Along" (2010)

 

In 2010, Randy Bachman and C.F. Turner decided to show the world they still had it some thirty years later, and this album just proves that it was true.

Sounding just as good as they did in 1974 as Bachman Turner Overdrive, how in the Hell are these guys not in the so called Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? 

Some things just don't make sense! 

BACHMAN & TURNER - "Rolling Along"

THE PANDAMONIUM - "The Unreleased Album" (2004)

 

The Pandamonium was a band lead by singer songwriters Bob Ponton and Martin Curtis, and just might be the best 60's band that you never heard of, and also was one who never released an album in the 60's.

Luckily this stuff did get recorded and was finally released by Radioactive Records in 2004. 

They did have a couple of singles, one of which was "Season Of The Witch," that actually predated Donovan's version. 

 

 

Pandamonium were from Kent, UK, and started off as The Pandas in the mid 60's.

Bob and Martin were joined in the band by Mick Glass and Steve Chapman who were also from Kent.

They later changed their name to Pandamonium, and then The Pandamonium. 

Here's a very cool song for all our friends up in the great Pacific Northwest! 

THE PANDAMONIUM - "Waiting For Summer"

YOU AM I - "#4 Record" (1998)

 

"You Am I's #4 Record" is just that.

This was the fourth release by this band from Australia, and on it, is a song with a very familiar title to any Link Wray fans, but it's not a cover, but an original song with the same title. 

You Am I is very popular, and has won many awards in Australia, but for some reason, and as far as I can tell, they have never made a dent in the American market.

Not sure why, because this is a very good band!

YOU AM I - "Rumble" 

AMULET - "Person To Person" (1980)

 

So the "Overachiever Award" of the week goes to a 1980 band named Amulet, and I have no doubt that after you listen to this song that you will know what I mean.!

Hailing out of Evansville, Indiana, these guys started out doing hard rock cover songs in 1978, but here's a song off of their first album that proves they were much more than just a cover band.

Trust me when I say, you'll throw your back out if you try and dance to this krazy madness. 

I'm not a big fan of this type of hard rock, but these guys won me over because they are on a completely different level. 

Give it about 45 seconds and when it gets to the chorus you'll understand that these guys aren't just cracked eggs.

AMULET - "Person To Person" 

FAT WATER - "Wayback" (1969)

 

Fat Water were from Chicago, and this 1969 self-titled record was their only album.

To my ear, most of the songs on this LP are really good, but there was just too much organ, but here's a great song where they really had it together as good as anybody else in 1969!

I don't often say that songs are too short, but this one is so good, I actually wish it was a longer, because this is pop perfect!

FAT WATER - "Wayback" 

LAZY SMOKE - "Corridor Of Faces" (1969)

 

Continuing on this cavalcade of hits, here we have, straight out of Haverhill, Massachusetts, a band called Lazy Smoke, and a cut from their 1969 LP titled "Corridor Of Faces."

Lead singer John Pollano did have a voice similar to another very famous John, but it just wasn't enough!

Too bad, because their music was pretty great!

LAZY SMOKE - "All These Years"

GENESIS - "The Knife" (1970)

 

Many of you know Genesis as the Phil Collins-fronted chart-topping pop-rock band of the Eighties. But some of you who were Peter Gabriel fans during that time may know that he was the previous front man of Genesis in the '70s -- a time when Genesis was one of the leading (though only moderately commercially successful) prog bands of the era. 

 

 

At the very beginning, however, Genesis was primarily an English electric folk band with artsy leanings.

But their second album, the fairly obscure "Trespass" (1970), saw Genesis in transition, creating a new genre that merged their folkish tendencies with a much harder rock sound that would ultimately be described as "prog" by the time of their third album.

But the transitional "Trespass" was important because in addition to its growing musical complexity, it saw Genesis engaging in social critique, the most powerful being the Peter Gabriel-penned lyrics to a piece called "The Knife," a composition that offered the scary and brutal point-of-view of a powerful dictator demanding the lives of young men in meaningless conflicts. A the time, it could've been construed as an anti-Vietnam protest, but it's still relevant in a time of an authoritarian Trump, whom you can imagine saying to his followers that you'll be "Martyrs of course to the freedom that (only) I shall provide". 

Interestingly, "The Knife" was one of the few pieces that Genesis played in concert for the entirety of their career. Obviously, they continued to think the piece was relevant.

GENESIS - "The Knife" 

FAPARDOKLY - "Super Market" (1968)

 

The band name Fapardokly is derived from the names of the band members: FA-Fankhauser, PAR-Parrish, DO-Dodd, & KLY-Dick Lee. They kind of stretched it on the last name. 

It's kind of the same formula used by some people to name racehorses. 

I guess they never really expected for anybody to actually say it on the air back in 1968, and I think they were right!

 

Maybe sometimes it's better not to know what the band members looked like, but then I guess they did actually look like a band named Fapardokly

After they got a record deal, the record company convinced them to change their name to the more approachable Merrell Fankhauser & H.M.S. Bounty.

FAPARDOKLY - "Super Market" 

THE HEIMATDAMISCH – "Highway To Oberkrain" (2015)

 

While I'm on the subject of cover songs, here's a really great one from German polka band The Heimatdamisch from their CD titled "Highway To Oberkrain" from a mere ten years ago in the year 2015.

If music is supposed to be fun, and I believe it is, this group hands out about as much fun as is humanly possible. 

Here's a multi-layered cover by a very talented group of people, and if you don't fall in love the gal playing the guitar, then you might need to make a Doctor's appointment.

THE HEIMATDAMISCH  - "Highway To Hell"

MANIACAL 4 - "Carry On" (2012)

 

There are lots of ways to cover a tune, you can do it as true to the original, or you can give it a different arrangement, or in the case of the Maniacal 4, you can have completely different instrumentation, and make it your own.

I think that if a person was not familiar with the original version of this song, then they just might believe that this was the original, it's that unique. 

I also originally thought that this group's name was simply the Trombone Quartet, but the Maniacal 4 suits them much better.

From a 2012 CD titled "Carry On," get ready for a real Manic Monday! 

MANIACAL 4 - "Carry On My Wayward Son"  

BAND OF SKULLS - "Baby Darling Doll Face Honey" (2009)

 

Here's a good song from a 2009 album by Band Of Skulls that was titled "Baby Darling Doll Face Honey."

Band Of Skulls was a trio from Southampton, UK and the members were Russell Marsden on vocals and guitars, Mathew Hayward on drums, and Emma Richardson on vocals and bass.

 

Emma Richardson is also a painter and has sold her art around the world. This is a shot of one of her paintings called "Predator."

Here's a link to a website that features all her work!

 In 2022, Emma quit the band to concentrate full time on her art, but since that time she started playing again, and is now the bass player for The Pixies. 

BAND OF SKULLS - "I Know What I Am"

TRIPSICHORD - "The New Word" (1971)

 

Here's another pretty cool and unique Northern California psych band you might not have heard of,

Tripsichord, formerly known as Tripsichord Music Box.

Their manager, the notorious Mathew Katz, had them shorten the name.

At one point, Mathew Katz managed Moby Grape, Jefferson Airplane, and It's A Beautiful Day, and he ripped them all off, and the court cases went on for decades.

So it's probably just as well that Tripischord never gained widespread popularity, or they would probably have ended up in court too, instead of The Billboard Charts.

The music is a lot heavier than this album cover would have you believe. 

From their 1971 self-titled album, here's.....

TRIPSICHORD - "The New Word" 

TRANSATLANTIC RAILROAD - "Express To Oblivion" (1968/2000)

 

Transatlantic Railroad's a 1960's Northern California bay area band that you don't hear about every day, but they were really quite unique and made some good music.

The music on this release titled "Express To Oblivion" was recorded in 1967-68, but wasn't released until 2000 when it was picked up by RD Records in Switzerland.

The story is that they were working on an album when they had multiple problems in the studio, and they only got a handful of songs recorded. 

Later, guitarist and lead singer Kent Housman recorded with Blue Cheer for one album.

 

This song starts off sounding like a Blue Cheer-Quicksilver blend, then changes into a jazz club song that then transitions into a slow blues, then slows down even further into a sweet love song with a bluesy guitar solo, before ending in the rowdy fashion it started, and that's all in only three minutes and eighteen seconds.

TRANSATLANTIC RAILROAD - "Camp Towanga"

ODD TIME SIGNATURES: Part Five (Brian Protheroe)

 

Rich here with a final post in my series about songs that stray from the standard 4-beats-to-a-measure found in well over 95 percent of rock songs. This time I'm featuring a song by Brian Protheroe.

 

Brian who? I hear you asking. Yeah, I know. But there are a few of you out there who may remember "Pinball," a Number 60 obscurity on the charts  in 1975 that featured droning Dylanesque poetry lyrics and a cat that meowed mid-production. Almost no one in the U.S. ever heard of the UK actor/musician again after that minor blip on the charts.

 

But I was one of the handful who fell in love with Brian Protheroe and his three albums because of their wit and sophistication and the musical games he played. One song that always caught me in its web of McCartneyesque hooks and melodies was "Goodbye Surprise," a tune that started out with a piano and horns playing in straight 4-beat time. But, damn, as soon as Brian started singing, it was a wild free-for-all of changing time signatures.

The first line of singing had 7 beats, followed by horns that played for 5 beats -- all of which is repeated before veering into two measures of 3 beats and concluding the verse with two measures of 4 beats.

 You wanna dance?

BRIAN PROTHEROE - "Goodbye Surprise" 

WENDY & THE ROCKETTS - "Dazed For Days" (1983)

 

This record titled "Dazed For Days" by Australian band Wendy & The Rockets came out in 1983.

Wendy Stapleton was the leader of the band, and as far as I can tell, she is still very popular in Australia. 

This song did have a bit of popularity having made it to number 28 on the Australian charts, and it's a good song, but I don't think they achieved much success in the U.S.  

Probably should have taken their own advice. 

WENDY & THE ROCKETTS - "Play The Game" 

LEFTIES SOUL CONNECTION - "Skimming The Skum" (2007)

 

This record titled "Skimming The Skum" by Lefties Soul Connection sounds more like it was recorded in 1979, than 2007, that's how legit it is.

Lefties Soul Connection were from Amsterdam, and it sure sounds like they were raised on soul food, but I get it, I'm sure Amsterdam is a pretty funky spot too, especially if these guys are any indication.

Dig in!!

LEFTIES SOUL CONNECTION - "Funky Chick" 

ENIGMAS - "Strangely Wild" (1985)

 

I don't know much about the Enigmas except that they were from Canada, played high tense rock and roll, and released this album called "Strangely Wild" with this strangely titled song on it in 1985, and that's about all you really need to know!

The rest is history! 

When you run out of words, just yell! 

 

 

THE ENIGMAS - "Windshield Wiper"