COMMANDER CODY AND HIS LOST PLANET AIRMEN - "Lost In The Ozone" (1971)

 

"Lost In The Ozone" by Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen just might be one of the best Country Rock albums of 1971, or at least if it's not the best, it's a damn good one.

There were quite a few bands performing in the alt-country genre that year like The New Riders Of The Purple Sage, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Byrds and Poco, but Commander Cody really did the best job of getting real Western Swing into the act, or at least that's my humble opinion!

Judge for yourself! 

COMMANDER CODY AND HIS LOST PLANET AIRMEN - "Lost In The Ozone" 

JOE HENDERSON - "Page One" (1963)

 

"Page One" was the first album the brilliant saxophonist Joe Henderson ever recorded.

It came out in 1963 and along with Joe, it featured Kenny Dorham on Trumpet, and the freakin' amazing pianist McCoy Tyner, who only got a credit as "/Etc." on the cover. Wow! 

This album is pretty mellow by Joe Henderson standards, because a lot of the time, musically, Joe liked to color outside the lines.

This is the thing about jazz, if you don't like jazz, then you will probably not like this cut, but if you do like jazz, then you'll love it!

That's just the way jazz works! 

JOE HENDERSON - "Recorda Me" 

SOUL COUGHING - "Ruby Vroom" (1994)

 

Soul Coughing was from New York, started out in 1992, and disbanded in 2000, but reunited in 2024 to go on tour.

This is a unique band that did it their way, but I'm not sure the world was ever completely ready, but I've always enjoyed their quirky poetic style.

This album called "Ruby Vroom" was released in 1994, and here's just a small sample of their genius. 

SOUL COUGHING - "Down To This" 

PATRICK D. MARTIN - Computer Datin' (1981)

 

This self-titled EP by Patrick D. Martin came out in 1981, and is in the genre of Electronic, Minimal, New Wave, Synth-pop, and it lives up to all of that.

I was going to play a cool instrumental called "?" but I can't find it on Youtube, and I'm too lazy to do it myself, so this will work just fine. 

This is Quirky & Fun music!

PATRICK D. MARTIN - Computer Datin'

THE RED TYGER CHURCH - "Free Energy" (2004)

 

The Red Tyger Church was from Sacramento, California, and they came out with this release called "Free Energy" in 2004.

The name Angie has been used in at least four other songs since 1969 by Badfinger, Stevie Wonder, Helen Reddy, and of course, The Rolling Stones.

This song is ten or twenty times better than The Rolling Stones' "Angie." 

THE RED TYGER CHURCH - "Angie Vampyre"

GEOGRAPHY, SEX, AND ROCK 'N' ROLL (Michael Franks, "Popsicle Toes," 1976)

 

Rich here. I had never heard of Michael Franks until I heard my brother Mark's band play "Eggplant," a jazzy, sexy, slinky song written by Franks that talked about all the ways the singer's baby cooked her, ummm, "eggplant," and his declaration that sometimes he "just has it raw with mayonnaise." 

 

"Eggplant" was the sexiest song I'd ever heard. Yet, for as much as the entire song was steeped in sexual allusions, it never once mentioned sex or making love. 

 

And as I discovered when I rushed out and bought THE ART OF TEA, the silky, jazzy album featuring "Eggplant," Michael Franks was certainly no stranger to double entendre. Many of his seductive songs are slyly blanketed with analogies and euphemisms for having sex. In fact, you may remember "Popsicle Toes," his most well-known song from the mid-'70s that included sexy lines that never mention sex. But I don't think he's singing about geography, do you?

 

You got the nicest North America

This sailor ever saw

I'd like to touch your warm Brazil

And feel your Panama

 

With all those warm-climate allusions, are you feeling hot, yet?

MICHAEL FRANKS - "Popsicle Toes" 

WARUM JOE - "Sex Beat" (1986)

 

Warum Joe were from Paris, France and started out in 1979 as Rock'n'Verole. Here's a song that was only released as one of the songs on this 1986 various artists compilation album on the French New Rose label titled "Play New Rose For Me 100".

 

They had several more albums after that but it wasn't until 2025 that this single was on an album of their own, called "Horas Extraordinarias" on Smap Records

WARUM JOE - "Sex Beat"  

ESCALATORS - "Here Comes That Girl Again" (1980)

 

A 1980 band by the name Escalators was the brain child of bassist Busta Jones who had played with people like Brian Eno, Chris Spedding, and The Talking Heads just to name a few.

In fact, Jerry Harrison of The Talking Heads was one of the people who joined Busta on this EP, playing synth and guitar. 

If you're not familiar with this group, it's probably because this EP was only released in Canada and in France. 

One thing I don't like about writing on this blog is reading about all the people who have passed away.

Busta Jones was another one who died way to early at the age of 44 in 1995. 

ESCALATORS - "Here Comes That Girl Again"  

EDDIE HAZEL - "Game, Dames And Guitar Thangs" (1977)

 

Eddie Hazel was the lead guitarist in the band Parliament / Funkadelic and came out with this crazy good solo album with this wild cover called "Game, Dames And Guitar Thangs" in 1977. 

In 1971 Funkadelic came out with an album called "Maggot Brain," and Eddie played a ten minute guitar solo on the title song that some people think is one of the greatest guitar solos of all time.

Eddie died two days before Christmas in 1992 at the age of 42, and they played the song "Maggot Brain" at his funeral!

Eddie Hazel, what a guitarist, what a guy!! 

EDDIE HAZEL - "What About It?"

BILLY BRIGGS - "Chew Tobacco Rag" (1951)

Forgive me for this one, but this song by Billy Briggs from 1951 is just something everyone needs to hear at least once.

It's so goofy, it's contagious!

Billy Briggs was from Fort Worth, Texas, and was mainly a steel guitarist.

Just in case you can't get enough, there's a Part Two of this song too that you can easily find on youTube.

BILLY BRIGGS - "Chew Tobacco Rag"

ADAM AND THE ANTS - "Dirk Wears White Sox" (1979)

 

I never was a big fan of Adam and the Ants, but I really like this song. It's pretty wild with lots of changes, and you never know where it's going, or what's going to happen next. You know, the way music is supposed to be!

From the 1979 album titled "Dirk Wears White Sox," here's a song anybody should be able to relate to!!

ADAM AND THE ANTS - "Car Trouble (Parts 1 & 2)" 

20 MILES - "Keep It Coming" (2002)

 

20 Miles released four albums between 1997 and 2003. The band consisted of Judah Bauer, guitarist for the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and his drummer brother Donovan.

Why they were not more popular beats the Hell out of me, because this is just a great song.

 Sometimes things in life just don't make sense.

20 MILES - "Mend Your Heart" 

ONE AND A HALF HIT WONDERS - Sugarloaf (Green-Eyed Lady, 1970)

 

Rich here. Has there ever been a record that was played on TV or the radio, and as soon as you heard it for the first time, you knew it would be a big hit? For example, the first time I ever heard "Cherish" (The Association), "Rhiannon" (Fleetwood Mac), "Uptown Girl" (Billy Joel), and "Billie Jean" (Michael Jackson), I knew they'd be big hit songs even before they were halfway through.

 

Back in the waning days of Summer, 1970, about a week before I started college, I heard a song that touched all my buttons -- "Green-Eyed Lady" by a band I'd never heard of, Sugarloaf. 

 

After the song's introduction featuring a bass run leading into a guitar's stinging notes, the band settled into in an unorthodox groove defined by a  catchy bass & guitar riff playing a syncopated hook in unison against the steady backbeat of the drums while a Hammond organ laid a thick sensual blanket over the top. Taken together, the instruments provided silky accompaniment for the seductive melody of a sexy woman with green eyes. That in itself was enough to draw me in to the song's charms, but then there was the jazzy solo that showed off the organ player's considerable skills. (The shorter single version of the song is far superior to the album version, which drives the guitar and organ solos into a meandering mess.) 

 

 

As I said, as soon as I heard "Green-Eyed Lady," I was hooked. It's still one of the most identifiable One-Hit-Wonders of the Seventies. (Although to be fair, Sugarloaf did have a follow-up single that briefly appeared on the lower reaches of the Top Forty before disappearing, giving the band the distinction, I guess, of being One-and-a-Half Hit Wonders.) And here it is, "Green-Eyed Lady," which still grabs me more than 50 years later.

SUGARLOAF - "Green-Eyed Lady" 

ÜMIT AKSU ORKESTRASI ‎–" Bermuda Şeytan Üçgeni" (1975)

 

What can I tell you about Ümit Aksu and his Orkestrası that you don't already know?

Not much really, except this is psych jazz-funk from Turkey circa 1975 and it's pretty much unlike anything else you'll hear. A lot of Turkish music from this era was just cool. They had no musical boundaries or restrictions, and no aspirations for commercial success or radio airplay in the U.S. so they just did what they liked with total freedom of expression!

One more thing I do know, some cat named Süheyl Denizci is featured on Tenor Sax.

 ÜMIT AKSU ORKESTRASI ‎–" Bermuda Şeytan Üçgeni"  

COUNT FIVE - "Can't Get Your Lovin" (1966)

 

The single "Psychotic Reaction" by Count Five was a big hit, and ironically made it to number five on the charts in 1966, but you never hear much about any of their other music.

 

They also released a four song EP around the world like this vampiric version from France.

The cover of the Mexican version is even stranger I think.

One of the songs on the EP I think had potential, but obviously the DJ's didn't agree, because I sure never heard anything else like this by them get played on the radio.

COUNT FIVE - "Can't Get Your Lovin" 

THE FRATELLIS - "Costello Music" (2006)

 

Listening to and looking at the cover of this 2006 release titled "Costello Music" by The Fratellis tells me two things, number one, they like making fun music, and number two, they like sexy women from a bygone era.

 

I'll just put a punctuation mark on that statement by playing this single by the boys from Glasgow, Scotland that confirms every word I just wrote.

THE FRATELLIS - "Henrietta"

TV TOY - "Boy"s Life" (1983)

 

"Boy's Life" by TV Toy was their 5th and last single. It came out in 1983, and was only released as a flexi-disc that was in the 27th issue of Trouser Press magazine, so don't feel too bad if you have never heard it before. I had a subscription to Trouser Press back then, and that's the only reason I know about it.

This is a really cool tune!

TV TOY - "Boy's Life" 

POSITIVE NOISE - "Change Of Heart" (1982)

 

Here's some positive noise by a band with the same name!

Positive Noise was a Scottish band and this LP called "Change Of Heart" came out in 1982.

It's a good message, get up off your ass and move!

In fact I think I'll take my own advice and get moving right now!

POSITIVE NOISE - "Get  Up And Go" 

BERNARD "Pretty" PURDIE -"Soul Is...Pretty Purdie" (1972)

 

Bernard "Pretty" Purdie is one of the best drummers in the whole damn world, and he's played on so many people's records, it is truly incredible, so here's a cut off of one of his own records. The album was titled "Soul Is...Pretty Purdie" and it came out in 1972.

Here's some truly classic Pretty Purdie for you!

PRETTY PURDIE - "Heavy Soul Slinger" 

THE GILLIGANS - "Too Much to Say" (2012)

 

Rich here. Longtime readers of this blogsite will remember that it was originally called "The 1980's Cassette Culture Blog" because its emphasis was on the homemade music that started coming from home recording artists when 4-track cassette recorders became popular in the early '80s -- technology that  allowed thousands and thousands of DIY musicians the opportunity to write & record & distribute their own songs. 

 

Those of us who were employing the new cassette technology began trading our self-recorded cassettes with other home-recording musicians and sending the tapes to a handful of fanzines & radio programs that featured DIY music. Our "product" may have looked fairly primitive with its hand-drawn, cut-and-paste artwork and photocopied lyric sheets, but, oftentimes, the music rose heads and shoulders above the appearance of the cassette package.

 

A very cool thing about those tape-trading years was that you didn't have to live in L.A. or New York or London to record your music or to collaborate with other likeminded musicians. And in the '80s and early '90s I made dozens of friends around the country, including with Dan McKenzie, an accomplished singer and actor from the small town of Streator, Illinois, who was featured on a number of the self-recorded tapes I was receiving from a mutual DIY musician friend who lived in the area. 

 

Like many of us who'd started out as bedroom recording artists, after the cassette culture reached its peak in the mid-'90s and began to diminish as CD's became more accessible as an option for releasing music, Dan also moved on to the relatively more sophisticated world of releasing CD's. And in 2012 his band The Gilligans released a CD of snappy, well-written pop tunes that I would only describe as a modern-day equivalent to The Monkees. As you can see and hear from the selection below, Dan and the band retained their sweet DIY innocence even as the production of their music became more professional. I love this tune.

THE GILLIGANS - "Too Much To Say"  

THE OUTER LIMITS - "When The Work Is Thru" (1965)

 

One good turn deserves another. Pretty Ballsy having a band called The Outer Limits in 1965, but I guess they never got sued for doing it, probably because they weren't around long enough.

The Outer Limits were from Leeds, England, and they had a big sound with lots of horns. This could have easily been a hit for Blood, Sweat, & Tears. 

For some reason, even with the endorsement of Ugly Ray Teret, it wasn't enough to get these guys to the top.

THE OUTER LIMITS - "When The Work Is Thru" 

THE CENTURIES - "The Outer Limits" (1963)

 

 

"The Outer Limits" were a big deal as a topic back in the mid-sixties.

So what's a guy supposed to do but write an instrumental song, make a label with a look alike Elizabeth Taylor as "Cleopatra"on it, then add in the imagination of one Tommy Falcone as producer, and you end up with something that sounds like this!

You know Tommy Falcone, he was the brains behind "Wacky and Quacky," and the 

"Chihuahua Cha Cha." 

THE CENTURIES - The Outer Limits"