IT BREAKS MY HEART TO SEE THOSE STARS SMASHING A PERFECTLY GOOD GUITAR!

 

Rich here. I remember like it was yesterday, seeing Pete Townshend and The Who smashing their instruments on TV (the Mike Douglas Show, if I remember accurately). As a 13-year-old who'd had to take over my brother's paper route for several weeks just to afford a cheap, $45 Japanese-made guitar, I was aghast. "Pete!" I screamed. "I'll take your guitar. Give it to me!"

 

Damn. 

 

And then Jimi Hendrix lit his guitar on fire at the Monterey Pop Festival, and by the time the Punk Movement came along, smashing guitars was routine. "How rebellious! What an artistic statement!" the rock critics wrote.

 

But to this day, it still breaks my heart for bands to smash their guitars, and John Hiatt voices my frustration perfectly.

JOHN HIATT - "Perfectly Good Guitar" 

THE REPLACEMENTS - "20th Century Boy" (1984)

 

Here's a song that was on the flip side of this three song EP brought out by The Replacements in 1984.

I don't think I need to say much except this is what Rock and Roll music is supposed to sound like.

Turn It Up!!! 

THE REPLACEMENTS - "20th Century Boy"

BAD COMPANY - "The 'Original' Bad Co Anthology" (1999)

 

This 1999 album by Bad Company titled "The 'Original' Bad Co Anthology" was a compilation of hits and unreleased tracks from their career. 

Here's a song that wasn't on any of their other records. It's just a basic rock and roll tune, nothing special, and no frills, but I like it. 

BAD COMPANY - "Ain't It Good"

WILDEST DREAMS - "Gypsy Eyes" (2014)

 

The other day I was trying to find out info about a 1980's L.A. band called The Wildest, and while I didn't find anything out about that band, I stumbled onto this image from an album by a band called Wildest Dreams, and I was like, hey, that's almost exactly the same as the cover of Randy California's album titled "Kapt. Kopter And The (Fabulous) Twirly Birds" from 1972.

 

I was wondering what the connection was and it sounds like Wildest Dreams was pretty enamored with the music of Randy California, and I also thought they sounded like some of the Bob Welch era Fleetwood Mac, or in other words, Wildest Dreams are a pretty cool band. I like their sound.

WILDEST DREAMS - "Gypsy Eyes"

I never did find out anything about a band called The Wildest.

CHRIS KENNER - "I Like It Like That" (1961)

 

 A top 10 song in 1961 was "I Like It Like That" by Chris Kenner. Chris wrote this song and it made it to number two on the charts.

Chris also wrote and recorded the killer song "Land Of A 1000" dances, but his version only made it to number 77 in 1962. The more popular version was recorded by Cannibal And The Headhunters that hit number 30 on the charts in 1965.

Chris died of a heart attack in 1976 at the age of only 46.

CHRIS KENNER - "I Like It Like That"

HUEY "PIANO" SMITH AND THE CLOWNS - "Don't You Just Know It" (1958)

 

Let's go back to Louisiana for a couple of days, and the hit songs of my youth.

Huey "Piano" Smith was a prodigy and wrote his first song at 8 years old, and by the time he was 15, he was already playing in clubs.

After performing with many people including Little Richard, Huey and his band called The Clowns recorded this hit record that made it to number 9 on the charts.

Unlike many musicians from this time period, Huey lived to be 89, and just passed away in 2023.

HUEY "PIANO" SMITH AND THE CLOWNS - "Don't You Just Know It" 

LOS CUATES DE SINALOA - "Pegando Con Tuba" (2009)

 

Just one of the great things about the TV series "Breaking Bad" was the clever choices of music, and this song by Los Cuates De Sinaloa was a good one. It was just all too perfect!

Cousins Gabriel and Nano Berrelleza were originally from Sinaloa, Mexico but are now based in Phoenix, Arizona! 

LOS CUATES DE SINALOA - "The Ballad Of Heisenberg (Negro Y Azul)" 

IT'S NOT THE BIBLE, AFTER ALL

 

Rich here. As a Methodist pastor's son who went to Sunday School virtually every week for the first 18 years of my life, you can understand why, when I saw the title of the 1987 album by The Silencers, "Letter from St. Paul," I immediately thought it was a biblical reference. After all, a whole section of the New Testament is referred to as the "epistles," that is, "letters," and many of those letters are said to have been written by Saint Paul.

 

Boy, was I ever wrong! 

 

Turns out "A Letter from St. Paul" refers to a letter presumably written to the band from a female fan in St. Paul, Minnesota! 

 

It's basically a prominent bass and seductively slinky guitar instrumental accompanied by an atmospheric harmonica riff and a droning piano note. And though the song has no lyrics, per se, from time to time a whispery female voice interjects into the mix, reading portions of the "Letter from St. Paul." 

 

God, if you're listening, I love this track.

THE SILENCERS - "A Letter from St. Paul" 

THE PASTEL SIX - "Cinnamon Cinder" (1963)

 

Out of nowhere, this song just popped into my head tonight.

Cinnamon Cinder was the name of a small chain of clubs owned by game show host Bob Eubanks.

This popular song by The Pastel Six made it to number 25 in 1963.

We used to listen to this song and crack up when the goober guy says 

"It's a very nice dance!" 

Seven members in the band and three of them played the sax! 

THE PASTEL SIX - "Cinnamon Cinder" 

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"

JAMES WHITE AND THE BLACKS - "Off White" (1979)

 

What's not to like about this 1979 album by James White And The Blacks? Well, basically nothing, that's for sure.

I probably should have presented the song "Contort Yourself," but you can look that up easily enough yourself.

This was a great group of musicians, and when you can do a better version of a classic song done by Marilyn Monroe, then I'd say that's quite an accomplishment, and James White And The Blacks easily pull it off.

And besides, it's absolutely true, we are having a heat wave, mentally, physically and every other way that you can possibly think of! 

47 years later, and James White's got as good of an explanation as anyone! 

 JAMES WHITE AND THE BLACKS - "(Tropical) Heat Wave" 

EYES - "Topological Lies" (1979)

 

Eyes, or The Eyes were a Los Angeles based punk band that recorded in 1979. Their only other release was an EP that included two other bands, The Controllers, and The Skulls.

The A side of this single was "TAQN," or "Take A Quaalude Now."

I actually prefer the flip side, mostly because I like the impressive title.

EYES - "Topological Lies" 

FIREWATER - "The Man On The Burning Tightrope" (2003)

 

This 2003 release from NY band Firewater is all over the place. The pundits might say you need to develop a style, but I'm much more in favor of go ahead and explore all styles, and that's what Firewater does.

Firewater is basically Todd Ashley, aka Tod A as singer, songwriter, and bassist through a few incarnations. Other members have come and gone.

It's been 13 years since their last album, I'm still hopin' for more in the future 

FIREWATER - "Too Much (Is Never Enough)" 

PHIL HARVEY - "Bumpershoot" (1959)

 

A big part of why I do this is blog is because I'm always looking to learn more about the history of music. There's just no way to know everything, and there is always something old that's new if you just look around!

And that's what brings us to this song called "Bumpershoot," an instrumental from 1959 by an unknown guy named Phil Harvey, but the trick is, Phil Harvey is not unknown by any means, and is actually one of the most prominent figures in the history of Rock and Roll.

Phil Harvey's real name is Harvey Phillip Spector, aka the record producing madman Phil Spector. 

Who knew, certainly not me! 

And just in case you don't know who Phil Spector is, read this entry about him on Wikipedia, it should only take about 30 minutes. That's how grandiose and outlandish he was.

PHIL HARVEY - "Bumpershoot"