R.I.P. Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac, 1943-2022

Sadly, singer/songwriter and keyboardist Christine McVie has passed away at 79 after a short illness. She'll be greatly missed. 

Happy Birthday Johnny Dyani

Remembering South African bass boss Johnny Dyani on his birthday with an alternate take of "Grandmother's Teaching" from 1984.

Elizabeth Shepherd shares animated clip for cover of Nick Drake's "Riverman"

The animation for the update of "Riverman" by Elizabeth Shepherd & Michael Occhipinti was created by Howie Shia and crew. 

"Riverman" is the lead track on The Weight Of Hope album by Elizabeth Shepherd & Michael Occhipinti available here.

Midweek Mixdown: What Wave presents Slippery's Club Hits

What Wave #24 came with a cassette comp documenting London, Ontario's underground rock scene, 1977-90. See link below. 

Listen to Slippery Club Hits put together by Dave O'Halloran for What Wave #24 via Mixcloud right here. 

Johnny Moped then... and now

Here's Johnny Moped aka Paul Halford singing in a backyard in 1974 and at London's Hope & Anchor back in August. 

Get a copy of Simon Williams' Johnny Moped biography 1-2 Cut Your Hair! via Damaged Goods right here. 

SNL's James Austin Johnson channels Bob Dylan on the Tonight Show

After breaking down his Biden impression and adding a bit of his Trump, James Austin Johnson encores with various era Dylans. 

Happy Birthday Sally Timms!

Celebrating the birthday of the delightful Sally Timms with a shout-along "Hard To Be Human Again" on a Brooklyn rooftop.

Reality's rare jazz funk gem Disco Party gets recirculated by Jazzman

Reality's tough-to-find jazz funk gem 'Disco Party' has been legitimately reissued in a limited edition of 1500 copies. 

Here's the scoop...

Dr. Otto Gomez of Smokin' Shades of Black

It has always been part of Jazzman's mission to shine new light on music that went under-appreciated at the time of its original release. There are many varied circumstances which can cause an otherwise great record to not do so well - for instance, poor budget, marketing, promo and sometimes just plain old bad luck. Perhaps the most unjust circumstance involves the tax loss releases of the mid-70s - records made purely to cheat a few dollars out of the tax man.

Jazzman have already given legitimate release to albums that fell foul of the notorious '70s 'tax scam' practice – namely those by Sounds of the City Experience and Ricardo Marrero – and they continue with the first sanctioned reissue of  Reality's 'Disco Party' album thanks to an agreement with the surviving members of the band. Possibly the most obscure of all the obscurities in the TSG Records catalogue – a subsidiary of Lloyd Price's LPG Records – Reality's 'Disco Party' recording isn't actually 'disco' at all. In fact, it's a fully rounded excursion into mid-70s dancefloor funk and proto-disco-jazz, performed by a group of expert musicians at the height of their powers. Recorded in one long session in NYC, until now, bandleader Dr. Otto Gomez and the rest of his crew had never even heard the recordings they'd made almost 50 years ago. Indeed, none of the band even knew that their album had been released! 

Along with restoring the music, the folks at Jazzman have dug deep into the Reality backstory, interviewing Gomez and others to find out exactly who this unheralded NYC funk orchestra were and what happened to them before and after the monumental session laid out on this record. The liner notes to the Disco Party reissue tell the story of the TSG label and the 'tax loss' phenomenon, and delve into the history of the band from their humble beginnings as the Smokin' Shades of Black (!) to the present day. You'll find out what it means to record some brilliant music - only to have it taken away - and discarded. 

Get a copy of Jazzman's limited-edition reissue of Reality's Disco Party album via Bandcamp right here. Check out the album followed by a clip of Dr. Otto Gomez's follow-up "Love Junky" single recorded with Jeff Odom in 1987 and released by People's Potential Unlimited Records in 2009. 

The Charlatans & Ride play their classics on "Between Nowhere" tour

Andy Bell and his Ride pals join Tim Burgess and the Charlatans at History in Toronto on February 4th. 

Here's the scoop...

Two of the UK’s most enduring and best-loved bands, The Charlatans UK and Ride have announced plans for a North American co-headline tour, set to begin January 30, 2023 at New York City’s Webster Hall and then continue with two Canadian dates Montreal's Corona Theatre on February 3rd and Toronto's History on February 4th before concluding February 18th with a grand finale at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, CA. Tickets for all announced dates go on sale Friday, December 2 at 10 am (local). For complete details and ticket information, please visit www.thecharlatans.net/gigs and www.thebandride.com.

In 1993, The Charlatans UK and Ride co-headlined Daytripper – two now-legendary concert events held in the British seaside towns of Brighton and Blackpool. The upcoming North American tour will once again see the two bands trading off the headline slot each night, with both performing classic albums in full – The Charlatans UK performing 1992’s landmark sophomore LP, Between 10th and 11th, Ride performing 1990’s debut masterpiece, Nowhere – along with a selection of greatest hits, fan favourites, and more.

 

ABOUT THE CHARLATANS:

The Charlatans – Martin Blunt (bass), Tim Burgess (vocals), Mark Collins (guitar), and Tony Rogers (keyboards) – have been on a remarkable journey for over three decades, from their beginnings as 1990 Manchester scene hopefuls to their current role as one of the most durable and treasured bands in British music, joined by a passionate and loyal following that has given them lasting success. Over the years, The Charlatans have notched 13 top 40 studio albums in the UK – three of them #1s – alongside 22 hit singles, four of which made the top 10. The rollercoaster highs have been accompanied by some shattering lows, any which one of them could have felled a less resilient band, from nervous breakdowns to near bankruptcy and the deaths of two founder members. Somehow, the band have not just carried on but adapted and transformed. The classic Charlatans sound – driving Hammond organ, Northern Soul and house-influenced rhythms, swaggering guitars and Tim Burgess’s sunny yet somehow yearning vocal – is instantly recognizable.

Hailed by PopMatters as “a certifiable classic,” Between 10th and 11th was originally released in 1992 and features such classic singles as “Tremolo Song,” “I Don’t Want To See The Sights,” and the band’s biggest US hit to date, “Weirdo.” More recently, The Charlatans celebrated their own 30th anniversary with 2021’s career-spanning best-of, A Head Full of Ideas, and a similarly titled 2021-22 world tour. In addition, frontman Tim Burgess has created the hugely popular Tim’s Twitter Listening Party, an ongoing series of real-time album playbacks via Twitter, featuring stories from bands and fans, rarely seen images, and exclusive insights and anecdotes from the artists who created some of music’s most iconic albums. His acclaimed new album, Typical Music, is out now.

 

ABOUT RIDE:

Shoegaze legends Ride floated out of Oxfordshire in 1988 with a primordial blaze of noise and a sound like scorched clouds. Their first four EPs affirmed them as an alternative sensation, with 1990’s full-length debut, Nowhere,  rising to the top 20 and proving Creation Records’ first major success story. 1992’s Going Blank Again rose even higher, reaching the top 5 on a celestial torrent of imagination like none other of its era. Two further albums followed before Ride decided to call it a day, their standing as leftfield sonic giants undiminished. Ride reformed in 2014, first with a series of top-billed festival sets (including Coachella and Primavera) and then followed by a full-scale reunion tour. 2017 saw the release of Weather Diaries, the band’s first new album in over 20 years. Ride’s sixth studio album, This Is Not A Safe Place, made a top 10 debut upon its August 2019 release, the band’s highest chart position in 25 years. A 2020 world tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of Nowhere was rescheduled to 2022, accompanied by the deluxe reissue of their early classic albums – including 4 EPs, Nowhere, and Going Blank Again – all available now via Wichita Recordings.

Happy Birthday Clarence Fountain!

Remembering gospel great Clarence Fountain with a powerful performance of "Too Close To Heaven" and a few gems.

Carla Olson & Stephen McCarthy share "We've Gotta Split This Town"

The roots rave-up "We've Gotta Split This Town" is off Stephen & Carla's new album Night Comes Falling available here.

Happy Birthday Lori Barbero!

Raising a glass to Lori Barbero on her birthday with two songs from a Babes In Toyland reunion performance way back in 2015. 

Watch Scott B perform "Downhearted"

Check out Scott Bradshaw performing "Downhearted" off Scott B Sympathy's Unfinished Sympathy album from 1998. 

Michael Belfer tells the SF scene story of Tuxedomoon and The Sleepers

The 2nd edition of Michael Belfer's 70s SF underground study When Can I Fly? is available from Hozac Books right here. 

Here's the scoop...

Just when you thought you knew all there was to know about ’70s San Francisco underground music,

here we have Michael Belfer- one of the SF scene’s earliest progenitors, who straddled two very different worlds playing guitar in two of the Bay Area’s most creative musical groups, The Sleepers and Tuxedomoon. By far two of the most unique bands in the early San Francisco musical landscape.

When Can I Fly? is a harrowing memoir filled with stories encapsulating the seedy side of the San Francisco punk and post-punk scene in great detail, from the opening of the Mabuhay to the closing of the Savoy Tivoli and every back alley overdose in between. Tracing the earliest roots of The Sleepers in Palo Alto in 1975-76, Belfer was privvy to witnessing the nascent SF punk scene development as his bandmate Ricky Williams (aka Ricky Tractor) was already playing drums in the first lineup of CRIME at the time. This memoir offers a glimpse into the inner workings of the complications of street-level avant-garde musicianship, as well as the drug empire that was fueling the fires within the movers & shakers of the late 1970s in seething detail, and on a few occasions with grotesque precision.

What do Herb Alpert, ‘Joe Boxer’ briefs, Will Shatter’s secret salsa ingredient, Celestial Seasonings tea, and HEROIN all have in common? They all somehow intersect with Michael Belfer amongst the pages in When Can I Fly? – and man, what a ride!

As Belfer’s recollections cover his unusual position of drifting between two well-known working bands, both orbiting around the shadier side of underground musical expression in the uncharted waters of the late 1970s, what’s apparent in hindsight is how both seem so conceptually disconnected from the rank & file punk bands they played alongside at the time. Combining this lurid scene of drug-soaked denigration with the most mind-bending experimental sounds of the Bay Area during the era, When Can I Fly? portrays the side of the SF punk story lost in the shadows of addiction and compulsion, and almost even breaches into Breaking Bad territory at some points.

Fortunately, When Can I Fly? has been blessed with a plethora of incredible and previously unseen photography from the Richard Peterson archive (Search & Destroy magazine) covering Belfer’s intertwining tenures in both The Sleepers and Tuxedomoon, as well as a wealth of rare flyers and photos by James Stark, Ruby Ray, and Sue Brisk. And with a Foreword by none other than Jon Savage as well as an Afterword by Hunt Sales (Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Todd Rundgren, and son of Soupy!), this is yet another sickening volume of underworld legend you shouldn’t miss.

Tom Wilson shares his story in 'Beautiful Scars' documentary

Check out Shane Belcourt's film Beautiful Scars based on the memoir of Hamilton singer/songwriter Tom Wilson of Junkhouse. 

You can get a copy of the paperback edition (right) of Tom Wilson's memoir Beautiful Scars via Penguin Random House right here. 

Happy Birthday Jim Mullen!

Cheers to Glaswegian guitarist Jim Mullen! Here's an interview and some footage w/ Terry Callier, Dick Morrissey & Brian Auger. 

Watch The Fall on The Tube back in 1985

Feel the wrath of Mark E. Smith's bombast during an interview and performance by The Fall on The Tube from November 8, 1985. 

JD Twitch uncovers rare 80s Japanese electro for Polyphonic Cosmos comp

Optimo ace JD Twitch spent 8 years putting together the 14-track Polyphonic Cosmos: Sonic Innovations in Japan, 1980-86.

Here's the scoop...

Ever since he made his first trip to Japan to DJ, Optimo Music founder JD Twitch has been bewitched by Japanese music, and particularly the vibrant, imaginative, and often far-sighted sounds which emerged from the island nation during the 1980s. Now he’s put years of digging in Japanese record shops to good use on Polyphonic Cosmos, the latest release on his compilation-focused Cease & Desist imprint. 

Subtitled ‘A Beginners Guide to Japan In The ‘80s’, the collection offers a personal selection of Japanese gems recorded and released between 1981 and ’86 – a period when advances in recording and musical technology offered the nation’s artists and producers a whole new tool kit to employ. When combined with the unique musical culture of Japan, where local traditions are frequently fused with Western styles to create timeless, off-kilter aural fusions, this embrace of locally pioneered music technology had spectacular, often unusual results. 

Eight years in the making, Polyphonic Cosmos provides an endlessly entertaining musical snapshot of Japanese music of the early-to-mid ‘80s with all of the open-minded eclecticism and sonic twists that you would expect from the Glasgow-based DJ. 

Compare and contrast, for example, the gently breezy, morning-fresh folk-plus-electronics bliss of ‘ばら二曲 Baranikyoku (Fellini&Rota)’ by World Standard – the most familiar alias of long-serving musician/producer Sohichiro Suzuki – and the hallucinatory, slow-motion tribal rhythms, post-punk rhythms and tape delay-laden electronics of Imitation’s ‘Exotic Dance’. Or, for that matter, the tipsy mid-‘80s electronic reggae of Pecker’s ‘Sha La La’, the grungy but melodic post-punk strut of ‘You Go On Natural’ by Earthling (a track Twitch accurately describes as “sheer unrelenting groove”), and the unearthly, swirling sonics, new age instrumentation and flotation tank vocals of prolific (and seemingly mysterious) act Geinoh Yamashirogumi’s ‘Rinne Kohkyogaku Meiki’. 

It’s a credit to JD Twitch’s curatorial skills that the quality never dips, and sonic surprises lurk around every corner. Consider for a moment the hard to describe, far-sighted audio immersion of D-Day’s ‘Ki-Ra’ – all languid post-pop guitar, enveloping chords, spoken word vocals, shuffling 808 beats and marimba melodies – and the two contributions from video games soundtrack specialist (and driving instrumental synth-pop specialist) Hiroyuki Namba. 

The collection naturally includes some selections that have long been favourites in Twitch’s DJ sets – see Masumi Hara’s ‘Your Dream’ – as well as a handful of tracks from artists who may be more recognisable to those with only rudimentary knowledge of Japanese musical culture. The great Yasuaki Shimizu, whose work as Mariah has become far better known in recent years thanks to reissues of some of his most magical albums, is represented via ‘The Crow’, a picturesque chunk of horizontal, hard-to-define jazz-not-jazz smokiness, while the collection fittingly concludes with a sublimely funky, oddball electronic workout from Yellow Magic Orchestra legend Ryuichi Sakamoto (the frankly incredible ‘Wongga Dance Song’).  – Matt Anniss 

Get a copy of JD Twitch's Polyphonic Cosmos via Glasgow's Cease & Desist Records right here. Check out a few tracks following the 2LP track listing below. 

Polyphonic Cosmos: Sonic Innovations In Japan (1980​-​1986)

A1 World Standard – Baranikyoku (Fellini&Rota)

A2 Masumi Hara – Your Dream

A3 Normal Brain – M.U.S.I.C.

A4 Hiroyuki Namba – Who Done It? (Part 2)

B1 Yasuaki Shimizu – Crow

B2 Hiroyuki Namba – Tropical Exposition

B3 Imitation – Exotic Dance

B4 Pecker – Sha La La

C1 EP-4 – Db

C2 Earthling – You Go On Natural

C3 Masumi Hara – Camera

D1 Geinoh Yamashirogumi – Rinne Kohkyogaku Meikei

D2 D-Day – Ki-Ra-I

D3 Ryuichi Sakamoto – A Wongga Dance Song

R.I.P. Canadian record man Al Mair, co-founder of Attic Records

Sadly, legendary Canadian record man Al Mair, co-founder of Attic Records, has passed away. He'll be greatly missed.  

That time Nikki Lane & Jaime Wyatt cruised with Junior Brown

Watch Nikki Lane and Jaime Wyatt sing "Waymore Blues" with Junior Brown on the Outlaw Country Cruise 3 back in 2018. 

Get tickets for Nikki Lane's upcoming Toronto show with Jaime Wyatt at the Horseshoe December 3 right here. 

One For The Weekend: Doug Brown & The Omens feat. Bob Seger

Here's T.G.I.F. (Thank Goodness It's Friday) from Doug Brown & The Omens with Bob Seger on organ and backing vocals. 

Don Pyle launches new photo book, Shot in a Mirror @ Two Twos, Saturday

Don Pyle's Shot in a Mirror, includes rare photos of Lou Reed, David Bowie, Fifth Column, Soft Cell, Gary Floyd, Matmos, etc.

Here's the scoop...

Midnight Mass Press and Susto are very poised to present a double launch for two (plus) new publications by Don Pyle! A release event will happen on Saturday (November 26th) at 7pm, in the Two Twos room at Toronto's Annex Hotel (296 Brunswick Ave). A select collection of photographs will be displayed and Pyle will give a slideshow/talk at 8pm. We are thrilled to be joined by Martin Sorrondeguy who will be our guest DJ for some fun before and after the talking part.

Shot In A Mirror is a new 100-page collection of 50 intimate portraits, and is the second book from Don Pyle. 

Spanning 1977 to 2016, this edition of colour and black and white photographs is published by Midnight Mass Press, 2022. 

Also launching that evening is a Don Pyle edition of Susto. Susto is a 24” x 30” double-sided screen-printed portfolio/poster of select photos, designed and printed by Martin Sorrondeguy, encased in a custom-screened envelope. Photographer, filmmaker, artist and vocalist, Sorrondeguy is the sassy front-man in Los Crudos, Limp Wrist and his latest Chicago-based outfit, Canal Irreal. The wildly successful Susto series has traditionally featured Sorrondeguy’s own work, but he has expanded that base to include new editions by LA photographer Dawn Wirth, with the latest one focusing on Pyle’s punk photos, including rare shots of the Dead Boys, The Cramps, The Dils, Divine, Tyranna, Teenage Head and Johnny Thunders/Heartbreakers.

Shot In A Mirror features pictures of Stephen Andrews, Martin Sorrondeguy, Paul Henry, Paul and Miki Zone, Piano Rain, Dax Pierson, Bruce McCulloch, Kirby, Matt Wobensmith, Jess Scott, Diane Anastasio, Marc Manning, Matmos, Caroline Azar and Beverly Breckenridge of Fifth Column, Bryan Fisher, George Salmoni, John Teaves, The Reds, Kevin Hegge, Extra Fancy, Soft Cell, Fred Schneider, Christeene, KP Kendall, David Bowie, Lou Reed, The Dishes, The Runaways, Long Branch, Lisa Myers, Gary Floyd, Shary Boyle, Arno Kazarian, Richard Gullo, Meg Hewings, Patti Schmidt, Edmund White and Wendy Coburn.

Each book is accompanied by a companion volume, Reflections In A Mirror, featuring an interview with Don Pyle conducted by Chris Colohan and Matthew Finner. Pyle provides images relating to the conversation from his photo and personal archive. Risograph printed, 8.5” x 11”.

Each set includes a deluxe colour postcard portrait of Gary Floyd from 2016, and a Shot In A Mirror bookmark designed by Ashley Hohman. Cover of Shot In A Mirror was designed by Ashley Hohman. Interior of both volumes designed and laid out by Ali Qadeer.

Admission to the launch is free and with a cash bar.

Writes Don Pyle: 

"At long last, I have a site to sell books and photos. There will be copies of Shot In A Mirror and Susto at the launch, along with a selection of 13" x 19" prints from the two publications. You can order both from here along with some favourites from Shot In A Mirror, Susto and Trouble In The Camera Club." 

Visit Don Pyle's merch site here: https://donpyle.bigcartel.com/

Townes Van Zandt's 1987 gem At My Window re-reissued for RSD

Townes Van Zandt's At My Window – previously reissued for RSD 2012 – is back again, now on sky blue vinyl.  

Celebrating 33 years of Simply Saucer's Cyborgs Revisited

Here's the classic Cyborgs Revisited from Hamilton's Simply Saucer released on Mole Sound Records in 1989.  

Whaddya mean you don't know Matías Pizarro

Chilean pianist Matías Pizarro issued Pelo de Rata (Rat's Hair) in 1975, just before joining Jorge López Ruiz's Viejas Raices.

Here's the scoop...

Hey, there's this new guy around that plays like Herbie Hancock!!". When Chilean pianist Matías Pizarro arrived in Argentina fleeing Pinochet's dictatorship, word spread like wildfire in the local jazz scene. 

In the two short years that Pizarro spent in Buenos Aires, he became one third of the Viejas Raíces project alongside local jazz heroes Jorge López Ruiz and Pocho Lapouble, recorded with famed Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava and released his own solo album, Pelo de Rata ("Rat's hair"). 

Pizarro was no beginner though. Whilst in Chile he had already participated in several music projects and worked as a producer and arranger for the IRT label, and was connected to influential bands such as Los Jaivas and Blops. He had also studied in the Berklee School of Music where he not only met and lived with the cream of an emerging new wave of musicians, but he also had the chance to attend live performances of giants such as Miles Davis or Thelonious Monk. 

In the recording of "Pelo de Rata" Pizarro is joined by fellow Chilean Alejandro Rivera (Sacros, Grupo Sol) on quena and charango, Swedish bassist Bo Gathu on bass, Uruguayan saxophonist Finito Bingert and an impressive percussion team featuring Pocho Lapouble, "El Zurdo" Roizner and the mighty Domingo Cura. The album draws from the US jazz fusion currents of the time (think Chick Corea and Miles Davies), adding an undeniable Latin American character, all projected through Pizarro's own musical prism which displays his acute sense of harmony and a musical intimacy that reminds of those sincere, dreamy moments in Viejas Raíces. 

The 8-page booklet that accompanies the vinyl edition will give you a deeper insight into the story of Matías Pizarro, with previously unseen pictures and liner notes by Argentinean journalist Humphrey Hinzillo (La Nación , Rolling Stone Argentina). 

Credits:

MATÍAS PIZARRO: piano and voice 

ALEJANDRO RIVERA: guitar, charango, quena and voice 

HÉCTOR "Finito" BINGERT: saxophone 

POCHO LAPOUBLE: drums 

BO GATHU: bass 

DOMINGO CURA: percussion 

ENRIQUE "El Zurdo" ROIZNER: percussion 

You can get a copy of AlterCat's reissue of Matías Pizarro's Pelo de Rata album via Bandcamp right here. 

R.I.P. Dr. Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson, 1947-2022

Sadly, influential guitarist Wilko Johnson has passed away at 75. He'll be greatly missed. Watch Julien Temple's film below. 

LINKS

The Guardian Wilko Johnson obituary

BBC News Dr. Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson dies, aged 75

Iggy Pop recirculates French chanson album Après on vinyl for RSD

Iggy Pop's 2012 album Après is being re-released on pink vinyl with a bonus cover of Sacha Distel's "La Belle Vie" (listen below).  

Iggy Pop – Après (LMLR)

Et Si Tu N'existais Pas

La Javanaise

Everybody's Talkin'

I'm Going Away Smiling

La Vie En Rose

Les Passantes

Syracuse

What Is This Thing Called Love?

Michelle

Only the Lonely

La Belle Vie (bonus track)

We're thankful the Jive Turkeys' Bread & Butter LP is being reissued

Colemine is reissuing the instrumental funk cooker by The Jive Turkeys on turkey gravy brown vinyl December 9th. Nice!

Here's the scoop...

Bread & Butter, the first full length LP on Colemine Records and the debut of Ohio's Jive Turkeys –featuring Andrew DeRoberts, Matt Amburgy, Rob Houk and Colemine founder Terry Cole – is nothing but funky, soulful instrumental goodness from start to finish. Bread & Butter clearly established The Jive Turkeys as the initial benchmark for the old-school funk revival in the Midwest. Fans of The Meters, Booker T. & The M.G. s, and the funk revival sound will surely dig what The Jive Turkeys are puttin' down!

The turkey gravy brown vinyl edition is limited to 1800 copies worldwide! Pre-order a copy right here. Have a listen to the album followed by an interview with Colemine's Terry Cole on the 40 Minutes Of Funk podcast below. 

Listen to Colemine Records boss Terry Cole on the 40 Minutes Of Funk podcast right here. 

Trailer Bride's debut album is being issued on vinyl for RSD

Check out Melissa Swingle's "Trailer Bride" theme song and more from their 1996 debut album being released by Yep Roc. 

Gallon Drunk's James Johnston shares moody score for imaginary film

James Johnston continues his musical collaboration with photographer Steve Gullick, getting even darker with Everybody's Sunset.

Here's the scoop from James F. Johnston...

"Our new album released today on God Unknown Records. Steve and I are beyond pleased with how this album turned out. Oh, and it looks beautiful too.

Here’s some of the PR info that might help describe it:

Recorded at their homes throughout 2021 and 2022, the ten songs on this new album take the fragile intimacy and agenda-free approach of its predecessor and go out even further into the fringes.

“We were pushing away from songs,” says Johnston. “We wanted it to sound beautiful and loose, like something cast adrift.”

The album’s centre piece, the epic near ten-minute title track closes the album. 

“This track, that’s the centre of the record, was cut together, cut apart, ending up almost unrecognizable from where it started and then goes off on a complete tangent.”

“Even though we record fast, to keep a live feel, we really spent time on this album reassembling and disassembling a lot of the tracks. The song has a kind of damaged psychedelic yearning we both love on Big Star 3rd, or at least that’s what we were going for, which goes into a totally spacey and almost Wagnerian synth and string freak out, or a Popol Vuh Herzog soundtrack. 

“We were definitely both listening to side two of Low and Heroes at the time too and wanted to give the music a chance to stretch out, go somewhere unexpected.” 

Check it out below. 

You can get a copy of James F. Johnston & Steve Gullick's Everybody's Sunset via God's Unknown Records right here. 

Happy Birthday David Porter!

Celebrating the 81st birthday of singer/songwriter and frequently sampled Stax producer David Porter with a few familiar gems. 

Watch Bobby Darin get funky with "Long Line Rider" in 1969

Bobby Darin gets down on a whumpin' version of "Long Line Rider" off his album Born Walden Robert Cassotto. Check it out. 

R.I.P. Danny Kalb of The Blues Project, 1942-2022

Remembering guitarist Danny Kalb who joined Sun Ra's Arkestra members for Tifton's crazy cool Batman cash-in from 1966.

Here's the scoop on The Sensational Guitars of Dan & Dale LP:

This is not a Sun Ra album, nor does it sound like a Sun Ra album—but Sun Ra and various members of his Arkestra are on it. This 1966 budget-label project was an attempt by producer Tom Wilson (1931–1978) to cash in on the Batman craze launched by the popular superhero comic book-turned-campy TV series. 

"The Sensational Guitars of Dan and Dale" were not a real group—it was a marquee name for a rotating cast of session pros earning rent money by playing on hastily recorded albums intended to turn quick bucks on various musical and cultural fashions. There are at least 20 "Dan & Dale" albums listed at Discogs, most issued on the Diplomat label. To the best of anyone's knowledge, there were no musicians named Dan or Dale involved. In fact, few, if any, musicians have been identified from any D&D projects—"Batman" being a notable exception, and for good reason. 

Wilson had produced Sun Ra's first LP, Jazz by Sun Ra, in 1957 for Wilson's short-lived (but legendary) Cambridge-based Transition label. After Ra relocated from Chicago to New York in 1961, Wilson contacted Sunny, booked him in a Newark NJ studio, and produced The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra, issued in 1962 on Savoy. 

The Batman project occurred after Wilson's resignation from a staff producer position at Columbia Records, where he helmed albums by Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, Eddie Harris, Herbie Mann, and others. By 1966, Wilson had begun selling his services to the highest bidder as a freelancer, and produced many historic projects for MGM-Verve, including the first two albums by the Mothers of Invention, the first two Velvet Underground releases, and albums by Nico, Hugh Masekela, Eric Burdon and the Animals, and others. (More info: www.ProducerTomWilson.com) 

Despite the Batman album's notoriety among Ra collectors and cognoscenti, Sun Ra was not originally slated to play on it. His involvement was purely circumstantial. 

Wilson had invited members of The Blues Project to play on the session. According to the band's keyboardist, Al Kooper, the group wasn't told in advance about the "Batman" theme—they were just hired to show up, play, and get paid. Blues Project guitarists Danny Kalb and Steve Katz, bassist Andy Kulberg, and drummer Roy Blumenfeld turned up. But Kooper declined. The gig coincided with his father's 50th birthday party, which Kooper didn't want to miss. So Wilson had to find an organist to replace Kooper. 

Sun Ra was Al Kooper's replacement. Sunny brought along Arkestra saxophonists John Gilmore and Pat Patrick, and several other session pros also appeared on the date. 

Kooper has long been listed as having performed on this album. But he ain't on it. I interviewed him several times in 2017 and he was insistent about this. Furthermore, Kooper says he never met Sun Ra. 

As for the music, it's fun, but hardly groundbreaking. The Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra, by Robert L. Campbell and Christopher Trent, offers this critical assessment: "Except for the Batman theme, nearly all of the music on this album was plundered from various sources. 'Batman’s Batmorang' uses the slow movement of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony; 'Penguin’s Umbrella' takes over Chopin’s A-flat Polonaise; 'Batman and Robin Swing' is based on the love theme from Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet; and 'Batmobile Wheels' makes do with Bach’s Minuet in G, already recycled as ['A Lover's Concerto'] by the Toys. 'The Riddler’s Retreat' lifts its guitar licks from 'She Loves You' by the Beatles." 

This album has been bootlegged countless times over the decades. As long as we're cataloging Sun Ra's discography on Bandcamp, we figured we'd offer a Batman bootleg too. We claim no rights in the recordings or the compositions. In Sun Ra's monumental catalog, the Batman album is a mere footnote. 

— Irwin Chusid 

Get a digital copy of the album via Bandcamp right here. Listen to a few tracks following the album credits below. 

Credits:

Jimmy Owens: trumpet 

Tom McIntosh: trombone 

John Gilmore: tenor sax 

Pat Patrick: baritone sax 

Sun Ra: Hammond B-3 organ 

Danny Kalb: lead guitar, harmonica 

Steve Katz: rhythm guitar 

Andy Kulberg: bass 

Roy Blumenfeld: drums 

unidentified female vocalists and possibly other musicians as well. 

Produced by Tom Wilson