I Heard It, I Heard It, I Heard It On The X

Los Super Seven

Heard It On The X

2005

Ripped @ 320 w/3% recovery

ZZ Top’s 1975 hit “Heard It On the X” is a tribute to the radio stations known as “border blasters.” Switched on starting in the 1930s, the border blasters were stations transmitting from the southern side of the U.S.-Mexico border, blasting their AM signals into much of the southern half of the U.S.—and beyond (some could be heard as far away as Australia and Finland, according to Gene Fowler and Bill Crawford, authors of the book Border Radio). Being Mexican meant these 100,000+ watt behemoths (some with as many as 1 million watts) didn’t have to abide by FCC rules and regulations, and being on the border meant that they were often truly bilingual, mixing up a cocktail of conjunto, rock, country, tejano, jazz, mariachi, and R&B. Stations such as XER, XEG, and XELO ruled the border landscape until radio consolidation brought them down in the early 1980s. [The “X” in the song’s title stands for the fact that all of these border blasters, like all Mexican radio stations, had call letters that began with “X.”] “Heard It On the X” is now also the title track of the new album by the Tex-Mex collective Los Super 7, who’ve crafted an album-length tribute to those border blasters many of the group’s rotating cast of members grew up on. Albums this self-consciously diverse often fail to work precisely because of their diversity, but Heard It On the X works thanks to it. Mariachi horns (“Ojitos Traidores,” one of a pair of Spanish-language entries here) rub up against a western swing tune with Lyle Lovett on vocal duties (the Bob Wills song “My Window Faces the South”) and the aforementioned ZZ Top cover, while in the corner, a swaying R&B ballad (“Talk to Me,” very class of ’66) makes nice with a garage-rock rave-up (the Doug Sahm tune “I’m Not That Kat (Anymore),” sung here by John Hiatt). The Bobby Fuller cut “Let Her Dance” sounds positively Marshall Crenshaw-esque, taken on by Joe Ely. And it all works, reveling in its diversity and simultaneously making it kind of irrelevant. This is true Americana, American roots music, a 12-song honest-to-God musical melting pot, genres be damned (and ignored); none of these songs sounds jarring next to its neighbors. Producers Dan Goodman (the man behind Los Super 7) and Rick Clark (whose free CDs he compiles for Oxford American are much-loved by myriad music lovers) called in Texan guitar great Charlie Sexton to assist in putting together an album they hoped would be classic. He put together his own band (including Tin Machine’s Hunt Sales pounding the skins) for about half of the album’s tracks, recruiting the wonderful Calexico to backup most of the rest. Texas music legend Lloyd Maines—yes, father of Dixie Chick Natalie Maines—adds pedal steel to a track, and Flaco Jimenez plays accordion on another, while artists from Rodney Crowell and the Mavericks’ Raul Malo to Delbert McClinton and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown take turns on vocal duties. Malo’s “The Song of Everything” (another Sahm cut) is a particular highlight, a smoky, jazzy gem (thanks in large part to the West Side Horns’ playing) smack-dab where you don’t expect to find it (let alone betwixt Crowell’s Buddy Holly cover “Learning the Game” and Rick Trevino’s aforementioned “Ojitos Traidores”). But there’s not a weak link to be found here: the song selection is fairly flawless, as is the playing, as is the pairing of singers with songs. Sexton and company could have smoothed out this album’s rough edges, but they celebrate the cross-pollination from one genre to the next, in the process creating what should, in fact, go down as a classic American album. Heard It On the X is the best album 2005’s offered thus far. Tracklist 1 The Burro Song 2 Cupido 3 Talk To Me 4 I'm Not That Kat Anymore 5 My Window Faces South 6 Let Her Dance 7 Learning The Game 8 The Song Of Everything 9 Ojitos Tridores 10 I Live The Life I Love 11 Heard It On The X 12 See That My Grave Is Kept Clean Get it HERE

Nowhere Near Surf But Still A Damn Rockin' Sound

Little Barrie

King of The Waves

2010

Ripped @ 320 w/ 3% Recovery

Served by Terry C

Terry turned me on to these guys a little while back and from the very first track they grabbed me by the stones. It's definitely not surf but it is damn good rock that gets down to the bone. Enjoy.

Little Barrie is a power trio that originated in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England, since relocated to London. Their sound could be described as stripped down R&B/Soul/Funk/Blues/Garage rock jamband. The band consists of Barrie Cadogan (guitar and vocals), Lewis Wharton (bass) and Virgil Howe (drums). Before Howe, Billy Skinner was playing drums. Before Skinner, Wayne Fulwood was playing drums and singing. The first Little Barrie single "Shrug Off Love" b/w "Reply Me (It Don't Deny Me)" was recorded by Barrie before the project became a full band with session drummer Chris Lee. Keys player Miles Newbold appeared on the B side Reply Me and also engineered the session.

Little Barrie released their debut album, We Are Little Barrie, in February 2005. It was recorded over a series of 23 Wednesdays in Edwyn Collins' studio.

Wayne left the band before the recording of their second album. According to Lewis "Yeah, it was a surprise... I didn't think it would ever happen. The constant touring was driving Wayne insane. He was away from home a lot... It got to the point where we were about to go the US to record the new album and it dawned on him that he'd be away again, and that we would be touring it the year after that. So he said he couldn't do it anymore."

Stand your Ground was recorded between New York with Dan The Automator on the producing skills and the help of Russell Simins (of Blues Explosion) on drums and London with Mike "Prince Fatty" Pelanconi as producer and new drummer Billy Skinner.Whilst in New York with Simins they landed a support slot with legendary blues guitarist Hubert Sumlin. The band toured the album in Europe, Japan and Australia throughout 2007. They also backed Paul Weller on the title track of his 2008 album 22 Dreams

In 2008 Virgil Howe, son of former Yes guitarist Steve Howe,^[1] joined the band on drums and the trio backed Mareva Galanter on her album entitled Happy Fiu in March 2008.

Between 2009 and October 2010 the band wrote and recorded their third album "King Of The Waves" working again in Edwyn Collins studio with Edwyn, Seb Lewsley at the controls and Shawn Lee mixing. Chris Potter mastered the album. The first single of "King Of The Waves" was "Surf Hell". This track has recently featured as the theme tune to the 2011 Channel 4 series - Sirens and is also playable on the multi-platform video game, Rocksmith. The album was released in the UK on June 27th, 2011^[2] and will be released in the US on February 28th, 2012.^[3]

After touring with Charles Bradley in Spain, Little Barrie was invited onto his North American Tour in early 2012.^[

^Tracklist

1. Surf Hell

2. How Come

3. Does The Halo Rust

4. Precious Pressure

5. King Of The Waves

6. Now We're Nowhere

7. Dream To Live

8. Tip It Over

9. I Can't Wait

10. New Diamond Love

11. Money In Paper

Get it HERE

A Little (More)Face Time

The Faces

Five Guys Walk Into A Bar

2004

Re-Up

Ripped at a glorious 320 for your ears delight

*

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

There has never been a better box set than the Faces' Five Guys Walk into a Bar.... There has never been a box that captures an artist so perfectly, nor has a box set taken greater advantage of unreleased and rare material, to the point where it seems as essential and vital as the released recordings. Simply put, there's never been a box set as necessary as this, since it tells the band's entire tale and explains exactly what the fuss is all about. Unfortunately, some explanations are in order, since the Faces never made it big, resigned to cult status in America and Britain alike. Nevertheless, if you love rock & roll with an all-consuming passion, you may consider the Faces the greatest rock & roll band ever. And you'd be right. Other bands were certainly bigger and plenty wielded a stronger influence, but the Faces were something unique, an endearingly ragged quintet that played raw, big-hearted rock & roll as hard as the Rolling Stones, but with a warm, friendly vibe that would have sounded utterly foreign coming from the Stones. At the turn of the '60s, that warmth was unusual in rock & roll, since most of the big bands were larger than life; even the Kinks, the quaintest and quietest of the titans of the late '60s, had a theatrical bent that lent them a mystique.

In contrast, the Faces were utterly without mystique. They were unpretentious to a fault, coming across like the lovable lads from the neighborhood who were always out for a good time, whether it was before, during, or after a gig. They were unassuming and mischievous, with their raggedness camouflaging a sweetness that flowed throughout their music; they were charming rogues, so endearing that even the infamously cranky, trendsetting British DJ John Peel had a soft spot a mile wide for them. That raggedness resulted in exhilarating music, but also made the Faces inconsistent on-stage and in the studio. At their peak, nobody could touch them, but even their greatest albums were sloppy, never maintaining their momentum. They would also throw away great songs on non-LP singles, and their live performances -- including BBC sessions for Peel -- often had a raucous energy not quite captured on their albums. All of these elements taken as a whole add up to a great band, but no single album, not even the first-rate 1999 compilation Good Boys When They're Asleep, captured each of these elements.

Five Guys Walk into a Bar... does. Produced and sequenced by their keyboardist, Ian McLagan, the set throws all conventional rules of box sets out the window. It's not assembled in a chronological order. A grand 43 of its 67 tracks are non-LP cuts and rarities, including a whopping 31 previously unreleased tracks. It has all the B-sides never released on CD. Several songs are repeated in alternate live or studio versions. Such a preponderance of rarities would usually mean that a box set is only for the devoted, but that's not the case here -- these rarities are the very reason why Five Guys Walk into a Bar... succeeds in a way none of their original albums do, since they fill in the gaps left behind on their four studio albums. This does mean that it features several Rod Stewart solo cuts that worked their way into the Faces' repertoire (partially because the band backed him on his solo albums, too), but that was an important part of their history (plus, the BBC version of "You're My Girl [I Don't Want to Discuss It]" is blistering hot), and while this showcases Stewart at his best -- he never was better than he was in the early '70s, whether it was fronting the Faces or on his solo records -- he never overshadows his mates on this box.

The focus is on the band as a whole, which means that the spotlight is shone on the late, perpetually underappreciated Ronnie Lane numerous times on each of the four discs, and that Ronnie Wood has his turn at the microphone on a wonderful live "Take a Look at the Guy." McLagan's song sequencing may appear to have no logic behind it, since it doesn't group recordings together by either era or scarcity, yet his seemingly haphazard approach makes musical and emotional sense, flowing like a set list yet remarkably maintaining momentum through its four lengthy discs. While it may sound like hyperbole, there's never a dull moment here, not a bad track among these 67 songs -- it's consistent in a way the Faces never were when they were together. It's a joyous, addictive listen, too. It sounds like a party, one where everybody's invited and where the music doesn't stop playing until the break of dawn. That makes a perfect tribute for a band that never got the respect they were due, and never made the great album they should have made. With Five Guys Walk into a Bar..., the Faces finally have that great album and not just that, they have a box set that's as infectious and satisfying as any classic rock & roll album and a box set that's quite possibly the greatest box set ever made. Plus, it's just one hell of a good time.

*

*

Key

[A]= First Step (March 1970)

[B]= Long Player (February 1971)

[C]= A Nod Is as Good as a Wink...To a Blind Horse (November 1971)

[D]= Ooh La La (March 1973)

[E]= Coast to Coast: Overture and Beginners (December 1973)

[F]= The Faces' Last Sessions (January 1975)

*

Disc 1

"Flying" (Ronnie Lane, Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [A]

"On The Beach" (Ronnie Lane and Ron Wood) [B]

"Too Bad" (Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [C]

"If I'm On The Late Side" (Ronnie Lane and Rod Stewart) [D]

"Debris" (Ronnie Lane) [C]"Jealous Guy" (John Lennon) [outtake from D]

"Evil" (W. Dixon) [Rehearsal, 1969]

"As Long As You Tell Him" (Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [B-side single, 1975]

"Maggie May" (M. Quittenton and Rod Stewart) [Live/BBC, 1971]

"Cindy Incidentally" [Alternate Mix] (Ian McLagan, Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [outtake from D]

"Maybe I'm Amazed" (Paul McCartney) [Live/BBC, 1971]

"Insurance" (Ronnie Lane and Ron Wood) [outtake from D]

"I Came Looking For You"+ (Ronnie Lane) [Rehearsal, 1971]

"Last Orders Please" (Ronnie Lane) [C]

"Wyndlesham Bay (Jodie)" (Ian McLagan, Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [outtake from D]

"I Can Feel The Fire" (Ron Wood) [Live, 1975]

"Tonight's Number"++ (Ronnie Lane and Ron Wood) [from Mahoney's Last Stand, 1976]

"Come See Me Baby (The Cheater)" (Ian McLagan, Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [outtake from D]

+ performed by Ronnie Lane and Ian McLagan

++ performed by Ronnie Lane and Ronnie Wood

*

Disc 2

"Pool Hall Richard" (Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [A-side single, 1973]

"You're My Girl (I Don't Want To Discuss It)" (Dick Cooper, Ernie Shelby, Beth Beatty) [Live/BBC, 1973]

"Glad and Sorry" (Ronnie Lane) [D]

"Shake, Shudder, Shiver" (Ronnie Lane and Ron Wood) [Rehearsal, 1969]

"Miss Judy's Farm" (Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [Live/BBC, 1973]

"Richmond" (Ronnie Lane) [B]

"That's All You Need" (Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [C]

"Rear Wheel Skid" (K. Jones, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan and Ron Wood) [B-side single, 1970]

"Maybe I'm Amazed" (Paul McCartney) [A-side single, 1971]

"(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want To Be Right" (Homer Banks, Carl Hampton and R. Jackson) [outtake from D]

"Take A Look At The Guy" (Ron Wood) [Live, 1975]

"Flags and Banners" (Ronnie Lane and Rod Stewart) [D]

"Bad 'N' Ruin" (Ian McLagan and Rod Stewart) [Live/BBC, 1971]

"Around The Plynth" (Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [A]

"Sweet Lady Mary" (Ronnie Lane, Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [B]

"Had Me A Real Good Time" (Ronnie Lane, Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [B]

"Cut Across Shorty" (Marijohn Wilkin and Wayne Walker) [Live/BBC, 1971]

* Sorry but these 6 tracks are missing from this .rar. I will work to correct as soon as I can dig up the backups. Thks to Dr Hank for catching it. T  3/30/12

*

Disc 3

"You're So Rude" (Ronnie Lane and Ian McLagan) [C]

"(I Know) I'm Losing You" (Cornelius Grant, Eddie Holland, Norman Whitfield) [Live/BBC, 1971]

"Love Lives Here" (Ronnie Lane, Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [C]

"I'd Rather Go Blind" (Bill Foster, Ellington Jordan) [Live, 1975]

"Hi-Heel Sneakers" (Robert Higginbotham) / "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" (Solomon Burke, Bert Berns, Jerry Wexler) [F]

"Gettin' Hungry" (Brian Wilson, Mike Love) [F]

"Silicone Grown" (Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [D]

"Oh Lord I'm Browned Off" (K. Jones, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan and Ron Wood) [B-side single, 1971]

"Just Another Honky" (Ronnie Lane) [D]

"Open To Ideas" (Ian McLagan, Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [F]

"Skewiff (Mend the Fuse)" (K. Jones, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan and Ron Wood) [B-side single, 1973]

"Too Bad" (Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [Live, 1972]

"Rock Me" (Ian McLagan) [F]

"Angel" (Jimi Hendrix) [Live/BBC, 1973]

"Stay With Me" (Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [Live/BBC, 1971]

"Ooh La La" (Ronnie Lane and Ron Wood) [D]

*

Disc 4

"The Stealer" (Paul Rodgers, Andy Fraser, Paul Kossoff) [Live/BBC, 1973]

"Around the Plynth" (Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) / "Gasoline Alley" (Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [Live/BBC, 1970]

"You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything (Even Take the Dog For a Walk, Mend a Fuse, Fold Away the Ironing Board, or Any Other Domestic Shortcomings)" (K. Jones, Ian McLagan, Rod Stewart, Ron Wood and T. Yamauchi) [A-side single, 1975]

"I Wish It Would Rain" (Barrett Strong, Norman Whitfield, Roger Penzabene) [Live B-side single, 1973]

"Miss Judy's Farm" (Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [Live/BBC, 1971]"Love In Vain" (Robert Johnson) [Live/BBC, 1971]

"My Fault" (Ian McLagan, Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [Live/BBC, 1973]

"I Feel So Good" (Big Bill Broonzy) [Rehearsal, 1969]

"Miss Judy's Farm" (Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [C]

"Three Button Hand Me Down" (Ian McLagan and Rod Stewart) [A]

"Cindy Incidentally" (Ian McLagan, Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [D]

"Borstal Boys" (Ian McLagan, Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [D]

"Flying" (Ronnie Lane, Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [Live/BBC, 1970]

"Bad 'N' Ruin" (Ian McLagan and Rod Stewart) [B]

"Dishevelment Blues" (K. Jones, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [promotional flexi-disc, 1973]

"Stay With Me" (Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) [C]

*

*

Get it HERE

Get it HERE

Get it HERE

and

Get it HERE

I'm Sure You Know Where Your Children Are Tonight

My two grandchildren (15 and 14) clued the ol' man about this issue this morning. Kidnapping, rape, murder, and torture of children in Uganda and other nearby African countries.

The situation is not new but the methods and technology that are being used for this awareness campaign utilizes tools that the younger generation can utilize and act on. It might seem to some like a big giant "sad story of the week" but I think it should be looked upon as a new avenue to have voices heard. Remember, if the politicians can use technology to get us to vote for them, we have the ability to turn that technology to let them know how the people feel when we see atrocities like this.

Please watch this video, stop a moment and think about it, and share it with someone you love. I was totally unaware this morning. Those that I love opened my eyes along with my heart.

Get Your Dog N Drink And Listen Up

The Papaya Kings

Don't Fear The Reverb

1998

Phil says:

The Papaya King's debut disc is a surf monster. It is loaded with flair and power, solid writing, and exceptionally good playing. There are no dogs on the disc, and no relaxation either. Solid top to bottom. It also sports one of the best CD titles of the year! "Green Dodge Dart (with three chicks in the back)" (track 14) is a live vocal with pure surf backing and rockabilly vocal stylings, and a sense of the kinda tune that appeared in the soundtrack to Back To The Beach. This is a strong CD.

Tracklist

Theme
Hyperactive!
Goner
Chasing a Mermaid
Man or Mancini?
Zombie Creep
Adventure
Rippin'
On the Strip
Mr. Ed
Raki
Corny One
Alone at Midnite
Green Dodge Dart (With 3 Chicks in the Back)
Theme (Outro)

Get it HERE

With A Rocket Or At Least A Bullit

Actung Rakete

ST

2009

@320 w/3% Recovery

Served by Teisco del Mar

First of all, ACHTUNG RAKETE loves you!!! POWER SURF is the top new brand of the ACHTUNG RAKETE Music Group. It contains tight beats, tough rhythms and emotional guitars spilling blood and soul. The 4 guys got a feeling for electrocute music, which cries out from a heart full of love and stomps with force and pressure! Let them take you to the place where spies get beat, surf and rock gets rolled and where garage doors are gaping wide open. So you better get up, get hip, get cool with the magnificent sound of the ACHTUNG RAKETE Music Group. Call it straight rockin sound! Call it POWER SURF!

Get it HERE

Grab Your Lady and Do Some Romancin'

Al Green

Let's Stay Together

1972

Ripped @ 320 w/3% Recovery

Biography

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Al Green was the first great soul singer of the '70s and arguably the last great Southern soul singer. With his seductive singles for Hi Records in the early '70s, Green bridged the gap between deep soul and smooth Philadelphia soul. He incorporated elements of gospel, interjecting his performances with wild moans and wails, but his records were stylish, boasting immaculate productions that rolled along with a tight beat, sexy backing vocals, and lush strings. The distinctive Hi Records sound that the vocalist and producer Willie Mitchell developed made Al Green the most popular and influential soul singer of the early '70s, influencing not only his contemporaries, but also veterans like Marvin Gaye. Green was at the peak of his popularity when he suddenly decided to join the ministry in the mid-'70s. At first, he continued to record secular material, but by the '80s, he was concentrating solely on gospel. During the late '80s and '90s, he occasionally returned to R&B, but he remained primarily a religious performer for the rest of his career. Nevertheless, Green's classic early- '70s recordings retained their power and influence throughout the decades, setting the standard for smooth soul.

Green was born in Forrest City, AR, where he formed a gospel quartet, the Green Brothers, at the age of nine. The group toured throughout the South in the mid-'50s, before the family relocated to Grand Rapids, MI. The Green Brothers continued to perform in Grand Rapids, but Al's father kicked the boy out of the group after he caught his son listening to Jackie Wilson. At the age of 16, Al formed an R&B group, Al Green & the Creations, with several of his high-school friends. Two Creation members, Curtis Rogers and Palmer James, founded their own independent record company, Hot Line Music Journal, and had the group record for the label. By that time, the Creations had been re-named the Soul Mates. The group's first single, "Back Up Train," became a surprise hit, climbing to number five on the R&B charts early in 1968. The Soul Mates attempted to record another hit, but all of their subsequent singles failed to find an audience.

In 1969, Al Green met bandleader and Hi Records vice president Willie Mitchell while on tour in Midland, Texas. Impressed with Green's voice, he signed the singer to Hi Records, and began collaborating with Al on his debut album. Released in early 1970, Green's debut album, Green Is Blues, showcased the signature sound he and Mitchell devised -- a sinewy, sexy groove highlighted by horn punctuations and string beds that let Green showcase his remarkable falsetto. While the album didn't spawn any hit singles, it was well-received and set the stage for the breakthrough success of his second album. Al Green Gets Next to You (1970) launched his first hit single, "Tired of Being Alone," which began a streak of four straight gold singles. Let's Stay Together (1972) was his first genuine hit album, climbing to number eight on the pop charts; its title track became his first number one single. I'm Still in Love With You, which followed only a few months later, was an even greater success, peaking at number four and launching the hits "Look What You Done for Me" and "I'm Still in Love With You."

By the release of 1973's Call Me, Green was known as both a hitmaker and an artist who released consistently engaging, frequently excellent, critically-acclaimed albums. His hits continued uninterrupted through the next two years, with "Call Me," "Here I Am," and "Sha-La-La (Make Me Happy)" all becoming Top Ten gold singles. At the height of his popularity, Green's former girlfriend, Mrs. Mary Woodson, broke into his Memphis home in October 1974 and poured boiling grits on the singer as he was bathing, inflicting second-degree burns on his back, stomach, and arm; after assaulting Green, she killed herself with his gun. Green interpreted the violent incident as a sign from God that he should enter the ministry. By 1976, he had bought a church in Memphis and had become an ordained pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle. Though he had begun to seriously pursue religion, he had not given up singing R&B and he released three other Mitchell-produced albums -- Al Green Is Love (1975), Full of Fire (1976), Have a Good Time (1976) -- after the incident. However, his albums began to sound formulaic, and his sales started to slip by the end of 1976, with disco cutting heavily into his audience.

In order to break free from his slump, Green stopped working with Willie Mitchell in 1977 and built his own studio, American Music, where he intended to produce his own records. The first album he made at American Music was The Belle Album, an intimate record that was critically acclaimed but failed to win a crossover audience. Truth and Time (1978) failed to even generate a major R&B hit. During a concert in Cincinnati in 1979, Green fell off the stage and nearly injured himself seriously. Interpreting the accident as a sign from God, Green retired from performing secular music and devoted himself to preaching. Throughout the '80s, he released a series of gospel albums on Myrrh Records. In 1982, Green appeared in the gospel musical Your Arms Too Short to Box With God with Patti Labelle. In 1985, he reunited with Willie Mitchell for He Is the Light, his first album for A&M Records.

Green tentatively returned to R&B in 1988 when he sang "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" with Annie Lennox for the Bill Murray comedy Scrooged. Four years later, he recorded his first full-fledged soul album since 1978 with the U.K.-only Don't Look Back. Al Green was inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. That same year, he released Your Heart's in Good Hands, an urban contemporary record that represented his first secular album to be released in America since Truth and Time. Though the album received positive reviews, it failed to become a hit. Green did achieve widespread recognition eight years later with his first album for Blue Note, I Can't Stop. One and a half years later, he followed it with Everything's OK. His third Blue Note album, 2008's Lay It Down, featured an updated sound that still echoed the feel of his classic earlier soul style.

Review

by Craig Lytle

Prior to this album, Al Green never had a number one song. The title track, "Let's Stay Together," achieved that status and held it for nine consecutive weeks. Green's ingenuity produced one of the all-time classics, which has the bounce of a dance cut and the passion of a ballad. The dynamic soul singer's whispers, animated cries, and riffing enhance his already stirring delivery. This album was sold on the strength of the title track as there were no other selections to grace the Billboard charts. However, this album includes the timeless gem "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" and lesser-known beauties like the exulting "Judy," the cookin' testimonial "I Never Found a Girl," and the soothing blues effort "It Ain't No Fun to Me." The Arkansas native and his creative partner Willie Mitchell season these selections with lucid rhythm arrangements complemented by the faint strums of a guitar and brawn, unchiding horns.

Like Don always said Peace, Love and Soul.

Get it HERE

This Means WAR!!!!!

Just my copy of Satriani.com "All Things Joe" to find this awesome video. This is a clip of the new "Satchurated 3D" movie that is opening this month. I have a 32" flatscreen for my desktop monitor and this video kicks some major ass in the visuals along with the hard driving sounds of "War". It's only in 2D but the quality is so good you can almost be there. We will be getting this in BD to play on the big big screen as soon as it comes out.

This video gives you an exclusive look at the song "War" from the upcoming "SATCHURATED" release. This is the FIRST 3D THEATRICAL CONCERT FILM release with brilliant 7.1 Dolby Surround Sound and will present the ultimate cinematic experience that you don't want to miss! This promotional clip is presented here in 2D.

IN SELECT US THEATRES IN MARCH, 2012

P.S.

The bassist is Allen Whitman from The Mermen that took a side trip from Santa Cruz to join Joe for some noise makin'.

Guilty Pleasure or Just Good Stuff? ***ReUp***

Yesterday we lost another one, Davy Jones. .

R.I.P Davy

The Monkees

The Monkees

1966

I was probably in the prime demographic (11-12) at the time this came out. 40 years later all of these tunes make me tap my toe and sing in the car. And I don't care if some people say it was all manufactured crap. I like it! Hope y'all do to. *** I'm getting too fuckin' old ***

T

Biography
by Richie Unterberger
Formed primarily for the purpose of starring in a television series, the Monkees were on one hand a cynically manufactured group, devised to cash in on the early Beatles' success by applying the most superficial aspects of the British Invasion formula to capture a preteen audience. On the other hand, they weren't devoid of musical talent, and at their best managed to craft some enduring pop/rock hits. "I'm a Believer," "Last Train to Clarksville," "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You," "Pleasant Valley Sunday," "Stepping Stone," "Take a Giant Step," "Valleri," "Words" — all were pleasantly jangling, harmony rock numbers with hooks big enough for a meat locker, and all were huge hits in 1966-1968. Scorned at their peak by hipsters for not playing on many of their own records, the group gained some belated critical respect for their catchy, good-time brand of pop. It would be foolish to pretend, however, that they were a band of serious significance, despite the occasional genuinely serious artistic aspirations of the members.The Monkees were the brainchild of television producers Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson, who decided to emulate the zany, madcap humor of the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night for the small screen. In September 1965, they placed in ad in Variety for four "folk & rock musicians" to appear in a TV series. Over 400 applied for the job, including Stephen Stills and Harry Nilsson, but as it turned out only one of the four winners, guitarist and songwriter Michael Nesmith, actually saw the ad. Micky Dolenz (who would play drums), Davy Jones (who would sing), and Peter Tork (bass) found out about the opportunity from other sources. Nesmith and Tork had experience in the folk scene; Dolenz and Jones were primarily actors (although Nesmith and Jones had already made some obscure solo recordings).From the outset, it was made clear that the Monkees were hired to be television actors first and musicians a distant second. There would be original material generated for them to sing in the series, mostly by professional songwriters like Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart, Carole King, Gerry Goffin, and Neil Diamond. There would be records, as well — had to be, with that kind of weekly exposure, to promote the tunes — but the group wouldn't do much more than sing, although the series would give the impression that they played their own instruments.The TV show was a big hit with young audiences between 1966 and 1968, with slapstick comedy, super-fast editing, and thin plots that could be banded together by almost surreal humor. It wasn't A Hard Day's Night, but it was, in its way, innovative relative to the conventions of television at the time. The irony was that, by the time the series debuted in September 1966, the Beatles themselves had just released Revolver, and had evolved way beyond their mop-top phase into psychedelia.Also in September 1966, the Monkees' debut single "Last Train to Clarksville" became their first big hit, reaching number one, as did the follow-up, "I'm a Believer." They were quickly one of the most popular acts in the business, yet they were not allowed to play anything on most of their first records, only to sing; the instruments would be handled by session players. This was particularly hard for Mike Nesmith, a serious musician and songwriter, to swallow, although he did manage to place a few of his own tunes on their records from the start.Eventually the Monkees revealed that they didn't play on most of their own records, and Nesmith in particular incited the group to wrest control of their recordings into their own hands. Partly to deflect criticism of the group as nothing more than puppets, and partly to effect control over their musical destiny (some of their early recordings had been packaged and released without their consent), the Monkees did indeed play and write much of the music on their third album, Headquarters (1967), with a lot of help from producer Chip Douglas. It didn't prove the band to be hidden geniuses, in fact sounding not much different from their previous releases, but as a hard-won victory to establish their own identity, it was a major point of pride. They would continue, however, to rely upon industry songwriters for the rest of their hit singles, and frequently employ session musicians throughout the rest of their career.Despite the questions surrounding their musical competence, the Monkees did tour before live audiences. They made their own contribution to rock history by enlisting Jimi Hendrix, then barely known in the U.S., as an opening act for a 1967 tour; Hendrix lasted only a few shows before everyone agreed that the combination was a mismatch (to put it mildly). But the Monkees were always a lot hipper personally than many assumed from their bubblegum packaging. Their albums are strewn with rather ambitious, even mildly psychedelic, cuts, some rather successful ("Porpoise Song," Nesmith's "Circle Sky"), some absolutely awful. In 1968, they gained their freak credentials with the movie Head, a messy, indulgent, occasionally inspired piece of drug-addled weirdness that was co-written and co-produced by Jack Nicholson (before he had broken through to stardom with Easy Rider).By 1968, the Monkee phenomenon was drawing to a close. The show's final episode aired in March 1968, and Head, released in November, was not a commercial success, confusing the teenyboppers and confounding the critics (not many people saw it to begin with in any case). Surprisingly, it was not Nesmith, but Tork who was the first to leave the group, at the end of 1968. They carried on as a trio, releasing a couple of fairly dismal albums in 1969, as well as producing a little-seen TV special. By the end of the '60s, Nesmith — who had established his credentials as a songwriter with "Different Drum," which was taken into the Top 20 by Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys — was also gone, to start a lengthy solo career that finally allowed him to stretch out as a serious artist. That left only Dolenz and Jones, who fulfilled the Monkees contract with the pointless Changes in 1970.When enough years separated the music from the hype, the Monkees underwent a critical rehab of sorts, as listeners fondly remembered their singles as classy, well-executed, fun pop/rock. That led to a predictable clamor for a reunion, especially after their albums were reissued to surprisingly swift sales in the mid-'80s, and their series was rerun on MTV. Nesmith was having none of it; by this time he was a respected and hugely successful music video mogul with his Pacific Arts company. The other three did reunite to tour and record a predictably horrendous album, Pool It! (Nesmith did join them once on-stage in 1989). Rhino has treated the Monkee catalog with a respect usually accorded for Charlie Parker outtakes, reissuing all of their original albums on CD with added unreleased/rare bonus tracks, and even assembling a box set.

Review
by Tim Sendra
The Monkees first album was a huge success, following on the number one single "Last Train to Clarksville." The Monkees spent 78 weeks on the Billboard chart including an astounding 13 weeks at number one. The record wasn't only a commercial juggernaut, it also stands as one of the great debuts of all time, and while the record and the group have faced criticism from rock purists through the ages, it stands the test of time perfectly well, sounding as alive and as much fun 40 years later. Prefabricated? Yes. After a fast buck? Yes. Exhilarating? Yes! Fab? Definitely! The music may have been created by studio cats instead of the band themselves but the pros weren't merely phoning it in. Listen to the aggressive guitars on "Saturday's Child," the raw romp of "Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day," or the cascading wall of guitars and fiddles on "Sweet Young Thing," and you know they weren't just padding their bank accounts. They were playing some real rock & roll and you can credit the producers for that. Producers Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart aren't craftsmen on the level of Phil Spector (who was actually approached to produce the band but probably laughed the Monkees' team right out the door), but they knew how to craft razor sharp and exciting pop tunes with lots of spark, soul, and the occasional psychedelic touch. And they knew how to get great vocals from their group. While the Monkees themselves didn't do much more than sing, the singing they did was first-rate. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better pop/rock vocalist than Micky Dolenz; his work on "Take a Giant Step" and "Last Train to Clarksville" is thrilling and bursting with life. The other lead vocalist, Davy Jones, thankfully doesn't get a chance to show off his full range of annoyingly whimsical mannerisms; Boyce and Hart keep him under wraps and his vocals on "I Wanna Be Free" and "I'll Be True to You" are achingly sweet, even a little soulful in a very British way. Boyce and Hart weren't the only great producers involved with the record, as a listen to "Papa Gene's Blues" and "Sweet Young Thing" show that Mike Nesmith also knew how to produce great pop music, despite what Don Kirshner may have thought. The various producers, supervisors, and coordinators were also savants when it came to both writing (in Boyce, Hart, and Nesmith's case) and picking songs for the group. Indeed, the only songs that feel like filler are the rudimentary rocker "Let's Dance On" and the silly "Gonna Buy Me a Dog," but even these throwaways are charming and stand up to repeated listens. It's easy to see why kids were buying this record as fast as the label could press them up. Despite the origins of the group and the behind-the-scenes machinations, the music itself is young, exciting and free. Who cares who did what and who didn't do what when the results are as rock-solid as "Last Train to Clarksville" or "Sweet Young Thing"? You could stack The Monkees up against almost any record of 1966 and the competition would be fierce, with this record coming out on top except in only a few cases.

Tracklist

1 (Theme From) The Monkees
2 Saturday's Child
3 I Wanna Be Free
4 Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day
5 Papa Gene's Blues
6 Take a Giant Step
7 Last Train to Clarksville
8 This Just Doesn't Seem to Be My Day
9 Let's Dance On
10 I'll Be True to You
11 Sweet Young Thing
12 Gonna Buy Me a Dog
13 I Can't Get Her Off My Mind [*]
14 I Don't Think You Know Me [alternate take/*]
15 (Theme From) The Monkees [*]

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More, More, More

The Monkees

More Of The Monkees

1967

Review
by Tim Sendra
The Monkees second album More of the Monkees lived up to its title. It was more successful commercially, spending an amazing 70 weeks on the Billboard charts and ultimately becoming the 12th biggest selling album of all time. It had more producers and writers involved since big-shots like Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Jeff Barry and Neil Sedaka, as well as up-and-comers like Neil Diamond all grabbed for a piece of the pie after Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, the men who made the debut album such a smash, were elbowed out by music supervisor Don Kirshner. The album also has more fantastic songs than the debut. Tracks like "I'm a Believer," "She," "Mary, Mary," " (I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone," "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)," "Your Auntie Grizelda," and "Sometime in the Morning" are on just about every Monkees hits collection and, apart from the novelty "Grizelda," they are among the best pop/rock heard in the '60s or any decade since. The band themselves still had relatively little involvement in the recording process, apart from providing the vocals along with Mike Nesmith's writing and producing of two tracks (the hair-raising rocker "Mary, Mary" and the folk-rock gem "The Kind of Girl I Could Love"). In fact, they were on tour when the album was released and had to go to the record shop and buy copies for themselves. As with the first album though, it really doesn't matter who was involved when the finished product is this great. Listen to Micky Dolenz and the studio musicians rip through "Stepping Stone" or smolder through "She," listen to the powerful grooves of "Mary, Mary" or the heartfelt playing and singing on "Sometime in the Morning" and dare to say the Monkees weren't a real band. They were! The tracks on More of the Monkees (with the exception of the aforementioned "Your Auntie Grizelda " and the sickly sweet "The Day We Fell in Love," which regrettably introduces the smarmy side of Davy Jones) stand up to the work of any other pop band operating in 1967. Real or fabricated, the Monkees rate with any pop band of their era and More of the Monkees solidifies that position.

1 She
2 When Love Comes Knockin' (At Your Door)
3 Mary, Mary
4 Hold on Girl
5 Your Auntie Grizelda
6 (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone
7 Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)
8 The Kind of Girl I Could Love
9 The Day We Fall in Love
10 Sometime in the Morning
11 Laugh
12 I'm a Believer
13 Don't Listen to Linda [#/*]
14 I'll Spend My Life With You [#/*]
15 I Don't Think You Know Me [#/*]
16 Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow) [Alternate Version]
17 I'm a Believer [Alternate Version]

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