Watch The Ramones ring in the New Year... 1977 style!

Here are the The Ramones tearing up The Rainbow in London on Dec 31, 1977 which later became the classic It's Alive album. 

Watch The Feelies play "Tomorrow Today" in Jersey City

Happy Birthday Patti Smith!

Listen to Patti performing "Dancing Barefoot" with Detroit Energy Asylum at the Magic Bag in Ferndale, Michigan in 1995 right here. 

Watch Yo La Tengo cover the Dream Syndicate and The Ramones

Yo La Tengo were alternately joined by Bill Frisell & Rob Zabrecky and then Greg Hetson & Fred Armisen for a punk rock encore. 

R.I.P. Neil Innes, 1944-2019

Sadly, composer/comedian Neil Innes, who collaborated with Monty Python and was the musical force behind The Rutles, has passed away.

Count Lasher tells of a talking parrot turned stool pigeon

Here's Count Lasher singing "Talking Parrot" with the Porter Calypso Star Band from 1957. 

Whaddya mean you don't know Kenny Graham & His Satellites

Inspired by Louis "Moondog" Hardin, UK saxophonist Kenny Graham recorded Moondog and Suncat Suites with Stan Tracey and producer Joe Meek in 1957.  

R.I.P. Sleepy LaBeef, 1935-2019

Sadly, Arkansas-born rockabilly rebel Sleepy LaBeef passed away on Thursday at the age of 84. He'll be greatly missed.

Tommy Wade & The Country Rebels opening for The Sadies, Minus 5 @ The Horseshoe, Tuesday

If you're going to see The Sadies at The Horseshoe on New Year's Eve, don't miss Tommy Wade or The Minus Five (with Steve Wynn!). 

Watch the Jimmy "Duck" Holmes video for "All Night Long"

"All Night Long" is off the Jimmy "Duck" Holmes album Cypress Grove produced by Dan Auerbach. The clip was shot at Jimmy's Blue Front Café. 

Happy Birthday Alex Chilton!

Remembering Alex Chilton with his Ork EP and a trailer from the documentary "Why Should I Care?"

One For The Weekend: Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell

Here's the title track off Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell's latest album "Very Uncertain Times" out now on Rise Above. 

Greg Foat cuts The Dreaming Jewels with Malcolm Catto

Greg Foat's latest album The Dreaming Jewels is out now on Athens Of The North. Listen to "Sapphire Dreams" below.

Here's the scoop...
Recording at Malcom Catto’s analog studio has been an ambition of Greg Foat’s for a long time, not only for the studio itself but for Malcolm’s skill using this vintage equipment, very few people can achieve such an incredibly big sound. Earlier this year we grabbed the chance to get the full Greg Foat Group joined by Binker Golding (Binker and Moses) on tenor saxophone, Malcolm Catto on drums and Hugh Harris (The Kooks) on guitar on the session.

Moving to a more rhythmic space, you could call it jazz funk or fusion, but labels suck so just listen and appreciate the pure sense of space Malcom achieves with this recording. Instruments float in space, aided by the vintage EMI desk and a host of valve equipment which has taken Malcolm a lifetime to collect. In amongst the more rhythmic pieces we also have some classic Foat style compositions; ‘Lake Kussharo’ and ‘The Dreaming Jewels’ as emotive and personal as ever, a feeling that can only be expressed and articulated in music. These past few years will no doubt be looked back on with great favour in musical history, with prolific and high quality output in all his various projects this LP is his crowning achievement of 2019.

Listen to "Sapphire Dreams" followed by a clip of Malcolm Catto in his studio. Get a copy of The Dreaming Jewels right here.

Watch the documentary Fairport Convention: Folk Heroes

Directed by Charlie Thomas with Mark Rivers, the film was released to coincide with the iconic British folk-rock group's 50th anniversary in 2017. 

Merry Christmas from Studio One!

Here are a few seasonal swingers from Jackie Mittoo, The Wailers, Alton Ellis and The Heptones off the second side of Studio One's Christmas In Jamaica LP. 

Various Artists - Christmas In Jamaica
Jackie Mittoo - Jingle Bells 00:01
Alton Ellis - Christmas Coming 4:13
The Heptones - Christmas Time Is Here 6:38
The Wailers - Sound The Trumpet 8:59
Hugh Godfrey - Merry Christmas 11:36
Gaylads - Christmas 15:09

Merry Canuck Christmas from Smiley Bates

Here's Smiley Bates singing the honky tonk yuletide classic "Daddy's Drinking Up Our Christmas" 

Yo La Tengo vs. Rodd Keith

Yo La Tengo did a fine job recreating the odd vibe of Sven Swanson's song-poem classic "Santa Claus Goes Modern" recorded by Rodd Keith. 

R.I.P. Brainticket's Joel Vandroogenbroeck, 1938-2019

Sadly, Brainticket mainman and sound library ace Joel Vandroogenbroeck passed away yesterday in Arlesheim, Northern Switzerland. He'll be greatly missed. 

Merry Christmas from Bakersfield's Cathy Sharpe!

Here's a rockin' Christmas number from Cathy Sharpe who cut "North Pole Rock" for the Bakersfield-based Global label in 1960. 

Merry Christmas from SCTV's Lola Heatherton!

Lola Heatherton (aka Catherine O'Hara) is joined by the Juul Haalmeyer Dancers with Martin Short for SCTV's Lola's Love Spirit.  

That time Grace Jones sang "Little Drummer Boy" on Pee Wee's Playhouse

Back in 1988, Grace Jones made a memorable guest appearance on Pee Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special. Watch it below.  

Merry Christmas from Ron Sexsmith!

Here's Ron performing a yuletide classic that doesn't refer to a holiday penned by Sammy Cahn and Jules Styne during a heatwave in Hollywood back in 1945. 

Willie Dickson & The Playboys vs. James Brown

James Brown's original Licking Stick ain't easy to top but Willie Dickson and his Montego Bay crew fronted by Noel Pinnock give it a good shot. 

Happy Birthday Betty Wright!

Celebrating the birthday of Miami soul legend Betty Wright with a vintage clip of "Shoorah! Shoorah!" and "Clean Up Woman"

The Chats make their U.S. debut introduced by Tony Clifton

Straight outta Queensland, Oz punks The Chats toured the U.S. in July, kicked off with an ace intro by Tony Clifton. 

That time The Skeletons backed Dave Alvin in Sweden

Here's Dave Alvin performing a few gems with Lou Whitney and Bobby Lloyd Hicks at Kupolen Borlänge back in 1992. 

R.I.P. Kenny Lynch, 1938-2019

Sadly, singer/songwriter, actor and record shop owner Kenny Lynch – who wrote Sorry She's Mine and Sha-La-La-La-Lee for the Small Faces – has passed away.

Merry Christmas from Los Lobos!

Los Lobos played a few songs from their Llegó Navidad album for their recent Tiny Desk Concert and also released a video for "Feliz Navidad" 

Rudeboy: The Story of Trojan Records screens @ The Grand Gerrard, Thursday

Rudeboy: The Story of Trojan Records premieres at The Grand Gerrard on Thursday at 8 pm. Get tickets here. Watch the trailer below. 

On Thursday (December 19th), The Grand Gerrard Theatre (1035 Gerrard St. East) is hosting the Toronto premiere of Rudeboy: The Story of Trojan Records - a film about the influential U.K. reggae record label. Tickets are $10 and doors open at 8 pm.

It's a film about the love affair between Jamaican and British Youth culture told through the prism of the U.K. record label, Trojan Records. Combining archive footage, interview and drama – Rudeboy tells the story of Trojan Records by placing it at the heart of a cultural revolution that unfolded in the council estates and dancefloors of late 60's and early 70' Britain and how that period of immigration and innovation transformed popular music and culture. Told by a cast of legendary artists including Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Toots Hibbert, Ken Boothe, Neville Staple, Marcia Griffiths, Dave Barker, Dandy Livingstone, Lloyd Coxsone, Pauline Black, Derrick Morgan and more. Watch the trailer below.

The Cramps vs. Freddie & The Hitch-Hikers

A shrewd use of theremin raised the creepy quotient of Freddie & The Hitch-Hikers' 1961 recording of "Sinners" which helped make it a Cramps fave. 

Happy Birthday Keith Richards!

Celebrating Keith's 76th birthday with a performance of "Happy" and a two-part interview. The Exile on Main St. tribute is at The Horseshoe on Friday.

Set times: Catl (9pm), Exile side 1&2 (10pm), Exile side 3&4 (11pm).

R.I.P. percussionist extraordinaire Emil Richards, 1932-2019

Sadly, Wrecking Crew session musician Emil Richards – who snapped his fingers on The Addams Family TV theme – has passed away. He'll be greatly missed. 

LINKS
Hollywood Reporter Emil Richards, Legendary Percussionist and L.A. Session player, Dies at 87

Midweek Mixdown: Santa's Sangria by Andy Votel

'Tis the season for yuletide mixtapes and Andy Votel usually has a killer-diller of a Christmas chiller. Check out Santa's Sangria below.

R.I.P. Gershon Kingsley, 1922-2019

Sadly, electonic music pioneer Gershon Kingsley – the man behind the hit tune "Popcorn" – has passed away. 

Hear Swamp Dogg's new country single feat. Jenny Lewis & Justin Vernon

Listen to "Sleeping Without You Is A Dragg" off Swamp Dogg's new country album, Sorry You Couldn't Make It out March 6th. 

Legendary soul singer/songwriter and producer Swamp Dogg has just announced that his new album Sorry You Couldn’t Make It, produced by Ryan Olson (Poliça), will be released on March 6th, via Joyful Noise Recordings and Pioneer Works Press. First single “Sleeping Without You Is A Dragg”—featuring piano by Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) and backing vocals by Jenny Lewis and Channy Leaneagh (Poliça)—is out now. Watch the  lyric video directed by Jacob Graham below. 

The follow-up to 2018’s critically acclaimed, Olson-produced Love, Loss, And Auto-Tune—Swamp Dogg’s first album to debut on 11 Billboard charts (including at #7 on 'Heatseekers’) and his first chart ink since his 1970 song “Mama's Baby - Daddy's Maybe”—Sorry You Couldn’t Make It allows Jerry Williams, aka Swamp Dogg, to finally dive into the sound he grew up playing: country. With the support of Pioneer Works Press, they recorded the album at Nashville’s Sound Emporium backed by a crack studio band led by Derick Lee, a keyboard virtuoso who worked as the musical director of BET’s Bobby Jones Gospel Show for nearly four decades. Nashville guitar firebrand Jim Oblon combusts his way through lead duties, while frequent collaborator Moogstar and other special guests John Prine, Chris Beirden of Poliça, and Sam Amidon join the action throughout.

While the 77 year-old Williams’ most enduring persona is the psychedelic soul superhero Swamp Dogg—a musical vigilante upholding truths both personal and political since 1970’s immortal album, Total Destruction To Your Mind—he will tell anybody who will listen that he’s considered himself country this entire time. “If you notice I use a lot of horns,” Swamp says. “But actually, if you listen to my records before I start stacking shit on it, I’m country. I sound country.”  

A band of 14 players, including Vernon, Lee, Beirden, and Moogstar, among others, provides the background for Swamp’s devastating new take on his biggest hit, 1970’s “Don’t Take Her (She’s All I Got).” Written with his best friend Gary U.S. Bonds, the track is country in that woeful, underdog-baring-their-soul sort of way that for some reason only country songs really ever allow themselves to be. Freddie North covered it first and made it a Top 40 pop song, but Johnny Paycheck took it all the way to #2 on the country charts in 1971. He duets with country-folk legend Prine on two songs (“It’s the first time I seen John since the sixties!” laughs Swamp): the indelible, psychedelic ballad “Memories” and the reflective “Please Let Me Go Round Again.” Originally written and demoed in his forties, “Please Let Me Go Round Again” is a plea for one more chance at life, sung with acute emotional connection.  

These are narratives about love, of missing the one you love, of compassion, family and friends, and even the kind of love that transcends death. Sorry You Couldn’t Make It sees Swamp come full circle, and closes what has felt to him like unfinished business. “They didn’t have any blacks in country until Charlie Pride came along,” he says. “But in time, all things change and that's what has happened to country music.” Surveying today’s Nashville reality, Swamp sees opportunity: artists as divergent as Darius Rucker and Lil Nas X are converging in a genre that he once worried might never give him his shot. “I'm anxious because it's like I've taken all my money and put it on one horse,” he says. “But I believe in this horse.”

Swamp Dogg – Sorry You Couldn’t Make It 

1.Sleeping Without You Is A Dragg

2.Good, Better, Best

3.Don’t Take Her (She’s All I Got)

4.Family Pain

5.I Lay Awake

6.Memories (feat. John Prine)

7.I’d Rather Be Your Used To be

8.Billy

9.A Good Song

10.Please Let Me Go Round Again (feat. John Prine)

Happy Birthday Sam Most

Remembering jazz flautist Sam Most – who passed away in 2013 – with two floor-fillers recorded for Bell in 1970.

Happy 85th Birthday Curtis Fuller!

Celebrating the birthday of trombone great Curtis Fuller with "Oscalypso" off his Blue Note debut The Opener. 

Dementia 13's DJ Christian Hamilton @ Tennessee Tavern, Saturday

Join Toronto's fave psych DJ Christian Hamilton on a mind-expanding trip to Dementia 13 live in Parkdale tonight. Check the wylde preview clip below. 

R.I.P. Roy Loney of the Flamin' Groovies

Sadly, Roy Loney of the Flamin' Groovies passed away, reportedly due to complications following surgery. 

Wordburglar releases his ode to the Sears Christmas Catalogue

Toronto MC Wordburgler reminisces about the joy of flipping through the Sears Christmas catalogue with sidekick More Or Les providing the cuts. 

Here's the scoop from Wordburglar...
This little number is about those holiday toy catalogues that teased, tempted and inspired generations of playful minds. Once upon a time and once a year, magical mags of marketing merriment would march into the mailboxes of toy-loving kids around the globe. Even though they were designed to sell product, these books of wishes became fuel for the playful imaginations, dreams and creativity of youth everywhere. This song is dedicated to every kid, young and old, who still gets a kick out of looking at pictures of toys (and of course playing with them!). Enjoy.

R.I.P. Jack Scott, 1936-2019

Sadly, Windsor-born rock 'n' roll great Jack Scott – who cut the classic "The Way I Walk" – passed away yesterday at the age of 83. 

One For The Weekend: Joseph Washington Jr.

Check out Joseph's boogie-funk jam "Shopping (for Christmas Presents)" off 1981's Merry Christmas To You. 

Marshall Crenshaw vs. Michel Pagliaro

Evidently, Marshall Crenshaw first heard Michel Pagliaro's "What The Hell I Got" played on Windsor's CKLW back in 1975. It took a while to cut it. 

"What The Hell I Got" appears as a bonus track on the reissue of Marshall's Miracle Of Science LP due January 17th.

Rare Tim Buckley performance from 1968 issued by Manifesto

Tim Buckley Live at the Electric Theatre Co.. Chicago captures the singer/songwriter at his improvisational peak in 1968. 

Colleen Grant's "Latin Parang" gets reissued by Soundway

Soundway's re-release of Colleen Grant's "Latin Parang" b/w Sandra Hamilton's "Parang Jam" will save you a few hundred bucks. 

Just in time for Christmas, Soundway is recirculating Colleen Grant's synth-enhanced Trini yuletide banger "Latin Parang" from 1980 b/w Sandra Hamilton's "Parang Jam" both written by Odessey One's Arnold Shuffler. Incidentally, Colleen Grant also voiced Odessey One's Carib-disco classic "Dance With Me"

Parang is a style of folk music that originated from Venezuelan and Colombian immigrants that came to the Caribbean, and evolved to include elements of Latin music, disco and soca - as is evident in this release. Although traditionally used to be played during the festive season in Trinidad and Tobago, parang music continues to heat up dancefloors all year round.

These two in-demand tracks were originally released on the local RH Productions label in Trinidad & Tobago. Fully restored, remastered and licensed - both are now being released officially for the first time on digital, and re-pressed for the first time on vinyl. Listen below.

Watch Las Kellies' video for "Funny Money"

"Funny Money" is off the forthcoming album Suck This Tangerine from Argentina's Las Kellies out March 27th on Fire. Pre-order it here.