February 28, 2018 - The Chantays - Pipeline (1962)

There are a few songs I love but know nothing about. They maintain a certain distance, an isolation, a corner of their own. This song by this band...and ask me no more questions. I could have unlocked the mystery at some point but I never thought about it. As Nigel Tufnel might say, "best leave it...unsolved."

But here in front of me is Pipeline by the Chantays, a song you probably know. I am going to abre la puerta and take a closer look.

The Chantays formed in 1961 in Santa Ana, CA...and are still playing today with at least two original members! That's 57 years! They are the only rock n roll band to play on the Lawrence Welk show. They have a street named after them in Santa Ana called Chantays Way.

Their song, Pipeline, has been covered by Johnny Thunders, The Ventures, Dick Dale and Stevie Ray Vaughan, Anthrax, Hanoi Rocks, and our friends Takeshi Terauchi & Blue Jeans. The rhythm guitar picks out a muted Alberti bass arpeggio. I didn't know what that was, did you?

OK, in spite of this new information that has come to light, Pipeline still has a shadowy mystique. It is all muted tones, surf guitar, reverb keyboards and drums. Out there catching a wave in the middle of nowhere.

Whenever we see your smiling face, we have to smile ourselves, 'cause we're the Chantays.

February 27, 2018 - Los Lobos - El Cuchipe (1978)

El Cuchipe is a bambuco by Eduardo Gomez Bueno, exquisitely performed here by Los Lobos. Their version originally appeared on the Tex-Mex and traditional album Just Another Band from East L.A.

The layers of strummed chords create a soft pillow of sound, and individual notes are picked out with gentle precision. In addition to guitar and mandolin, Los Lobos play various Mexican and South American instruments, like guitarron, jarana, requinto guitar, and charango.

Cesar Rosas sings the lead vocal with linguistic dexterity and natural charm. I love the middle section that goes:

toma la llave (take the key)
abre la puerta (open the door)
prende la vela (light the candle)
tiende la cama (make up the bed)

it makes me think of one of those enumerative songs, like 12 Days of Christmas, I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, and When I First Came to this Land. I often wish Cesar would just keep going with the list: pick up the laundry, turn on the tv, look at the movies, eat all the cookies, etc.

February 26, 2018 - The Brain - Nightmares in Red (1967)

For the longest time, I thought this group's name was The Brian, due to a typo in the mp3 file. I wondered if all the band members were named Brian. I felt a twinge of disappointment when I found out their name was really The Brain.

Nightmares in Red begins with piano chords that remind me of Love Me Tender, when Elvis sings "for my darling", but then the final piano chord goes up instead of down on what would be the "I love you" part. A sudden cacophony of horns shakes us at 0:09, then at 0:15 the dreaming begins:

Close my eyes what do I see...I am looking at the back of my eyelids followed by hysterical laughter from an invisible gallery of observers.

In this world of red and black...I imagine you will come back.  What happened in this person's reality? Did someone close to him die in a bad way or leave him? A sustained organ chord gives us pause to ponder the situation, then a couple of observers present their thoughts on the matter in weird operatic voices. Cascading harmonies lead to the center of the mind:

Nightmares in Red race through my head why wake the dead...why said said said (or something like that), and the dreamer snores. The subconscious will sort things out. One more loop around the track, then the curtain closes on this disorienting psychedelic experience.

February 25, 2018 Music from Bandcamp #8

Bandcamp. A band, a camp, and certainly more than the sum of those two parts.

1) Country of the Past - The Virgance (England, UK)

This would have fit in nicely on Carl Sagan's Cosmos program. Dreamy and slow, drifting music. Floating among the billions of stars in the cosmic stuff.

2) Private Novel (Don't Forget to Me, Remix) - DAM-T (Japan)

Japanese rap. Not really doing it for me, though I liked it more in the final minute or so.

3) Ancient Pastures - Digital Horizons (UK)

In the same general galaxy as the first tune, but with a softer landscape. Light and hazy synths, a sundown pasture with fireflies.

February 24, 2018 - The Jam - Start! (1980)

I need more Taxman! Mr. Tax is nowhere to be found at the moment, so here are some lads from Woking, England, to help us out of the jam. Kick out the jams, Mr. Weller!

We've got the Taxman guitar riff again (and the bass line), but this time the subject matter is unrelated. Start! is about a guy who wants to pick up a girl without having to muck about with all the introductory games and rituals. All about keeping it simple. No need to tax their energy needlessly, eh? He thinks two minutes is enough to sense the possibilities. He isn't willing to give very much, and as a result he's not expecting much, but at least he's being honest. 

Guess what? I'm no longer in a jam, Mr. Tax, I did my taxes this morning! Finish!

February 22, 2018 - The Viceroys - Ya Ho (1968)

I like sea shanties. I remember being in second grade and singing Blow the Man Down, and I even remember the lines I had to sing solo, something like "There were tinkers and tailors and sailors and all" (then the rest of class sang "yo ho, blow the man down) "that shipped with good seamen on board the Black Ball." Arrrr, matey, the music teacher's name was Miss Arment. Arrrrment. She went on to compose Chifrogo, a musical about Chicago that my elementary school performed in the late 70s. But that's another story.

Ya Ho is a rocksteady version of Dead Man's Chest, a fictional sea shanty that appeared in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. I love the Viceroys recording, especially the opening line "Long ago and long ago." Why do they sing "long ago" twice? I know not why, but it sounds cool. They also up the number of men on the dead man's chest from fifteen to sixteen. 

This is another great tune from the Respect to Studio One compilation, featuring music recorded by the legendary Sir Coxsone Dodd in Kingston, Jamaica during the 60s and 70s...Arrrrrrrrrighty, mon!





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February 20, 2018 - Double Leopards - Sound Holes (2003)

Sound Holes is the shortest (2:13) recording on Halve Maen, an album of beautifully creepy drone music from Double Leopards. The average length of the remaining seven tracks is close to nine minutes.

Hisses and strange eerie pulsating tones surround us, drawing us down a sound hole into a bleak terrain of misty shadows and twilight trails that lead nowhere. It would be a great soundtrack for The Upside Down from Stranger Things or the video game, Limbo. There is no sunshine here.

I found out that Halve Maen is Dutch for Half Moon, and Halve Maen was a ship in the Dutch East India Company during the 1600s. I'm not sure if there's a connection. Henry Hudson sailed the ship into New York (New Amsterdam), and Double Leopards were from New York, but that's all I got, folks.

February 18, 2018 - The Spiders - Mr. Tax (1968)

The Japanese Group Sounds bands voraciously absorbed the music and fashion styles of the Beatles and the British Invasion, aiming to promote and profit from its popularity among their own population, and even playfully plagiarizing. Mr. Tax, by the Spiders, pays tribute to Taxman, by the Beatles, swiping the main guitar riff and subject matter. However, as you will hear, this is the extent of their similarities, and the result is an unintended parody.

A clock ticks off the seconds left before the meeting between the narrator and Mr. Tax. The familiar guitar riff arrives at 0:19, and away we go. The first verse goes something like this:

Forgive me for coming so late
I'm very sad to see you, Mr. Tax
How are you, how are you, how are you?
Fine thank you, fine thank you, and you?
I'm in poor health, I'm in poor health, Mr. Tax

At this point we would expect a second verse...well, there is a brief return to the intro section, but then at 0:52 we are abruptly steered into an all-thumbs guitar solo with one of those sitar effects on it. This is a section of complete absurdity, and it often makes me shake my head with wonder and amusement. The solo ends at 1:12 and we are at the second and final verse:

What a sad thing it is, Mr. Tax
Please lift your face a little, Mr. Tax
excuse me, excuse me, excuse me
I hate you, I hate you, Mr. Tax
It is getting cold, it is getting cold, Mr. Tax...

The final 0:35 finds an increase in hostility by the narrator towards poor Mr. Tax. He says leave me alone, I hate you, and get out. He finally starts meowing like a cat with a bad fur ball, hoping it will creep out Mr. Tax enough for him to abandon his efforts to collect and Start! off through the door or out the window!

Wild Scheme A-Go-Go! (a drunk Mr. Tax shows up at 1:08, and man he is completely pissed off and wasted). Oh you crazy Spiders, planning to smuggle puppies onto an airplane. You guys and your Hello Kitty cuteness, I tell ya.

February 17, 2018 Music From Bandcamp #7

Bandcamp! Candy bamp bamp land!

1) Rock N Roll Death Wish - The Dreemers (Akron, Ohio)

I picture a scene from the Munsters where everyone is running around the house in high speed motion because one of Grandpa's experiments went haywire, the film being run backwards and forwards in time with the music. At 1:35 the music slows down and everyone slowly recovers.

2) Disc Galaxy - Dissectum (Israel)

Drum machine! Back in the 90s I had an Alesis SR-16, it was a lot of fun. This simple tune has a nice atmosphere.

3) Rescate Espacial En Alfa Centauro - METEOSAT (Madrid, Spain)

This translates as Space Rescue in Alpha Centauri. It chugs along out of the gate, soon joined by Spanish girl vocals. The chorus is catchy, esta lejos de aqui, it's far from here. Synth pop!

February 16, 2018 - The Dowlands - Lucky Johnny (1963)

Here's another Joe Meek production for your ears. This one is called Lucky Johnny and it's by an Everly Brothers-type duo called the Dowlands, brothers David and Gordon, from the southern coastal town of Bournemouth, England. It is taken from the Joe Meek compilation, Portrait of a Genius: The RGM Legacy.

It has that classic Meek reverb on the lead guitar, rockabilly slapback echo on the vocals, very 50s in style. The lyrics are about a guy who envies Lucky Johnny because he's going steady with Lucy, the girl of his dreams. He thinks he'd be better for Lucy than Johnny, but he knows it's unlikely that she will go for him. He hopes that someday he'll find a girl like Lucy.



Lucky Johnny is 2:10 in length. For those of you keeping score at home, we won't reach the 3:00 mark until May 6th, forty-two songs from today.

February 14, 2018 - The Golden Cups - Hiwa-Mata Noboru (1968)

The Golden Cups were part of the Group Sounds era in Japan, an explosion of bands that formed following the 1966 visit by the Beatles. In his book Japrocksampler, Julian Cope included a couple of pages of Group Sounds record sleeves. It's nuts how many bands there were! Some other bands were The Tempters, The Tigers, The Jaguars, The Cougars, The Spiders, The Gullivers, and the Carnabeats, all dressed in similar groovy 60s styles and all rockin the British Invasion sound in their own imitative way, equal parts Godzilla and Hello Kitty.

Google translated Hiwa-Mata Noboru as "Wow, I climb again." I imagine the Golden Cups in their groovy 60s clothes climbing an electrical tower and plugging in a giant fuzz pedal. At 0:22, there is a little fuzz burst. Bolts of power rise on a Jacob's Ladder until at 0:50 the power is turned on full blast and the most raw, 'skinned knee on the gym floor', electric guitar solo rips out across Tokyo. It barely lasts ten seconds, but it burns right through everything. Hot wires of love, straight to the heart.

February 13, 2018 - Johnny K. Killens & The Dynamites - I Don't Need Help (1967)

My take on I Don't Need Help is that it concerns the high school days of Mr. Kidneys, a time when he was just starting to realize his potential as a smooth-talking scam artist. One of his friends remarks that they've been buddies for a long long time, and the K-man has always been like a saint. He gave him bread, rubbed my aching head, always showed up when he was needed. But now, his friend says, I see you watching my baby, I see you giving her the eye, and he's pushing their friendship to the limit. He's living all of their years in a single minute. Basically, Mr. Kidneys needed to see his guidance counselor.

The opening horns play a backwards In the Midnight Hour hook, and the verses are an uptempo R&B guitar groove. But then at the chorus, the intro horn riff accelerates into the gravitational pull of the massive with her I don't need help, and together they cross the neutral zone into Popland, meeting potential neighbors like Got To Get You Into My Life and Speed Racer. This song coulda been a contender. Shoulda been huge.

This is the cover of the Numero Group album Eccentric Soul: The Deep City Label. I have been unable to locate an image of Johnny K Killens & the Dynamites. There must be one out there someplace...in space.

February 12, 2018 - The Germs - Lexicon Devil (1978)

The Germs were an influential LA punk rock band that existed in the late 70s. I checked out their compilation, (MIA): The Complete Anthology, from the library years ago, and Lexicon Devil became my favorite song from it. I only understood gimme gimme this gimme gimme that. The rest of the lyrics didn't matter to me, I just liked the voice and accepted whatever gibberish my brain translated, like "I'm a legend deadpool with a bad two friend searching for future the ruins my age." Close, but no cigar.

I eventually looked up the lyrics, which are pretty fascinating, but could never remember them the entire way through. The story is about a mad genius who wants to take over the world. From what I've read, writer and lead singer Darby Crash had an easy time getting his way and was fairly dictatorial, so he was probably writing about himself.

The guitar chords are identical to the vocal melody, making for catchy listening. Pat Smear puts in these nice pitch bends between chorus and verse. The drums are good, with fast little drum fills here and there.

February 11, 2018 Music from Bandcamp #6

It's time for Bandcamp!

1) Her Words Were Few And Small - Charlie Ulyatt (Nottingham, UK)

Guitar. Slow, sustained notes dotting the landscape, joined occasionally by scraping pick moments.

2) D R E A - we will kaleid (Münster, Germany)

Piano and processed drums, cool atmosphere. Not crazy about the vocals during the verses, but I like their dreamy texture during the chorus.

3) Manhã Sépia - Quarto Ácido (Brazil)

A bubbling psychedelic cauldron. Instrumental. Slow sinister intro, not that exciting but it sounds good. After 1:30, bass comes in, slow build to wah wah solo.

February 10, 2018 - Sam Cooke - Wonderful World (1960)

Sam Cooke was ranked the fourth greatest singer of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, after Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and Elvis Presley. He began his career with legendary gospel group the Soul Stirrers in 1950. His solo career lasted only seven years, from 1957 - 1964, but during that time he had 29 songs in the Billboard Top 40. His voice was smooth and soulful, and navigated a world of emotions.

In Wonderful World, we meet a 'student' who doesn't know much about many subjects. History, biology, French, geometry, trigonometry, and algebra are all mysteries to him. Additionally, he has a science book of some sort and a slide rule, but he doesn't know much about them either. Too bad it was 1960, he couldn't go out and get a computer and an internet connection. Regardless, he wants love, and he tells a girl that in spite of his lack of knowledge, he is going to try to be a better student and then maybe she will fall for him and make his world wonderful.

The music is light guitar and drums, providing a serene accompaniment. The backup singers are respectful and encouraging, helping Sam remember all the subjects he knows nothing about after he saunters off into la ta ta ta land at 1:37.

Wonderful World features prominently in two great films: Animal House and Witness. In Animal House, John Belushi saunters down the cafeteria line, filling his tray with food until it spills over, occasionally stuffing his face with burgers and jello (and whatever that one frickin nasty thing is he eats once he sits down). In addition to being an underachieving student (and not even remotely trying to be an A student), he is also a disgusting slob. It makes the song's hopeful outcome even more unlikely, although we can't help but love his uninhibited nonconformity.

In Witness, streetwise cop Harrison Ford dances with sheltered Amish girl Kelly McGillis as the song plays, its power of seduction walking hand in hand with its innocent charm. These two characters from completely opposite worlds are not immune to its universal magic, and it's only the weight of reality that keeps them apart.

February 8, 2018 - Nobuyoshi Koshibe - Episode 11 - The Most Dangerous Race (incidental music from Speed Racer) (1966)

On January 1, 2016, I posted the theme from Speed Racer, my favorite cartoon. Now I am going a step further by including a piece of incidental music from the program. It's from an episode called The Most Dangerous Race, a great one that includes drivers Snake Oiler (member of the Car Acrobatic team), and the mysterious Racer X.

It opens with a suspenseful variation on the theme's main motif, a tornado of horns, strings and pounding drums. Cheating death at every turn, Speed is a demon on wheels. There are a few brief moments of pastoral whimsy at 0:06 and 0:24 and 0:42.

Suddenly, at 1:02, there is a dramatic tingling pause and then the music changes to a chorus of horns blasting out in praise of the thrilling daredevils. I love the freight train chords at 1:12 and 1:35, the horns united in cheering the race on, promising a fitting coronation for the one who emerges victorious, which of course will be Speed. Mr. Amazing. There are some cool drum fills here and there, too, so hang on to your seats!

I don't know much about composer Nobuyoshi Koshibe, don't know much how to race a car, don't know much about helmet style, don't know much about smash up pile.

February 6, 2018 - Jenny Moss - Hobbies (1963)

When I was growing up, I had a few hobbies. I collected baseball and football cards, hot wheels and matchbox cars, the WLS Chicago chart sheets (picked up at Laurie's Records in the Deerfield Commons), records and tapes. I read Hardy Boys books. I tried rug hooking, that didn't go very far. Swimming, baseball, and listening to music.

Hobbies is 60s pop from the Joe Meek universe. A springboard intro gives way to a chorus of Lalalala, hobbies...then into boys boys nothing but boys, I've had my eye on quite a few...sung with a 'wink wink.' A teen girl aims to catch a boy by telling him, you know that I'll be true 'cause my only hobby is you.

It gets pretty weird when she starts abandoning all of her other crazy hobbies, like dance moves, books, and records. She sings I've got a brand new hobby that I'd like to add you to. I get sort of confused here. If the boy himself is supposedly a unique hobby (and her only hobby), to what new hobby will he be added? I mean, he can't be added to himself, can he? Hmmm? Alas, I have a feeling he's just one boy among many. Maybe she's planning to shut him in a room with other collected boys, like the Monty Python milkmen. "Is that all I am to you, Jenny? A hobby?!"

The music is a delicious malt shop of pizzicato strings, bass, guitar, harmonica and drum flourishes, Jenny Moss's voice all draped in heavenly reverb, with the chorus just behind, radiating shadows.

February 4, 2018 - Heart - Dreamboat Annie (1976)

Three songs from Heart's Dreamboat Annie album invaded my nine year old life in 1976. That summer I spent at least three or four days a week at Deerspring Pool in Deerfield, IL, where the high school lifeguards chose the music that blasted over the loudspeakers. Crazy on You and Magic Man were played all the time, but every so often Dreamboat Annie would drop in. I fell in love with Ann Wilson's voice and this song. It sounded as clear and cool as the water I splashed in for hours. Whatever she was, ship or girl, Annie rocked my little swimming pool world. Now she is a vessel for my nostalgia. 

After a brief moment of waters lapping, drums, bass, and acoustic guitar strike up a mellow groove in Dm. Then Ann Wilson comes in:

Heading out this morning into the sun...and the music goes from G to C...Nancy Wilson harmonizes on:

Riding on the diamond waves...Ann sings the same note sequence as the first line, but Nancy rises to a sixth note that fits in quite nicely. Bells are added at 0:22, kind of comforting, like constellations over the ocean. Warm wind caress her....

I'm not crazy about the banjo's appearance at  0:48. First of all, Annie is supposedly going down the city sidewalk alone, not hunting with Jed Clampett. It's like Annie suddenly turned the rudder and ended up on the Mississippi with Huck Finn. It's not a total buzzkill, I just prefer the opening style of the song and wish it had stayed like this throughout.

The multi-layered harmonies that first appear at 0:53 take the song into velvet Carpenters land, so soothingly lush. They have put me at the top...of the world. Really, Ann Wilson is just a degree or two removed from Karen Carpenter here. That's a compliment. I love Karen Carpenter's voice, it's like buttah. I must admit, sometimes I prefer Ann's gentle inside voice to her high frequency Crazy on You/Barracuda classic rock siren.

February 3, 2018 Music from Bandcamp #5

hi. bbbaaannnddd camp day!

1) Moving On - The Shifters (Washington, DC)

Excellent rocksteady song, very true to the form. Great harmonies, horns, riddims. I love it! Nice insert of handclaps at the very end.

2) Dum pater familias - Gabor Podhorszky (London, UK)

Classical guitar, very crisp with nice level of reverb. Lonely and reflective, not unlike Fotheringay. Medieval castles and bowls of mead. Stone walls and candlelit royal halls.

3) Entryway - Magical Timebeam (Emeryville, California)

Video game music. Not crazy about the main keyboard sound, but it's a pretty good recording in general, nice drums.

February 2, 2018 - Takeshi Terauchi & the Blue Jeans - Aizu Bandaisan (1971)

Takeshi 'Terry" Terauchi is a Japanese surf rock guitarist who has been playing music since the 1950s. His music is similar to other groups like the Ventures (who have always been BIG in Japan), The Shadows, Dick Dale, and the Trashmen.

Aizu Bandaisan is a good example of his (and others) surf music instrumentals: lots of fast picking, whammy bar action, descending and ascending runs, accompanied by the other rhythm guitars, organ and drums. Almost all of his albums were exclusively released in Japan, and although his music is not super original, I think he deserves more attention. An anthology of his 60s and 70s output is available. I think you can find more of his music on youtube besides this one, so look around if you are curious.

He's now 79 years old and, I hope, still whammy-barring away somewhere.