Showing posts with label Prince. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prince. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Vagaries of Lil Mike's Vinyl Vortex

I was going through some old records today and thought I'd post a few...

It's a bit of a pain to get these babies converted from flat licorice pizzas into fancy bundles of 1's & 0's so I hope ya can appreciate some of them...

Prince has a new disc out, but I ain't got it yet...

I do have this one he produced back in 1985 though...

Andre Cymone was Prince's childhood pal, and both their fathers were musicians, so naturally they started a band together in high school. Andre continued to play with Prince in the late 70's and very early 80's...before splitting off on his own circa 1981.

He didn't get far, at least not sound wise as this track shows...I myself can barely tell their voices apart...

Go figger...




Here's Andre's biggest chart attack, before he mysteriously disappeared into the audio ether. Anyhow, this was the edit version written & produced by the purple one off the Columbia Records 12" single from his circa 1985 album Andre Cymone ( aka AC ).

It's my understanding that all of Andre's solo recordings are out of print, so here's a small head start if you wanna seek some out...

Andre Cymone - The Dance Electric



This next song is a classic example of 70's soul with a message music. It was actually the B-Side to a 1974 single from a bigger hit the Chi-Lites were having at the time, but it still managed to get recognized and hit #63 on the US Charts. It follows in the tradition of their other big protest song "(For God's Sake) Give More Power to the People".

The Ch-Lites were from Chicago, ( Get IT?) and were basically lead by Eugene Record, and the version that recorded this track in their 70's peak included Robert Lester, Clarence Johnson Marshall Thompson, and Willie Kensey. It was one of 11 top 10 R&B hist they had between 71-75.

I know you can pick up a much less muddy sounding version on several of their greatest hits CD collections, it's even in the I-Tunes store...

But this is the black vinyl 45 rpm slab from the UK pressing I have, and it's what you get, in all it's funkily EQ'd, ripped & crackled glory...

Fans of Jay Z may recognize the intro which is sampled at the beginning of Jay Z's so called farewell album a couple anos back where his mother talks about the little Sean Carter...

The Chi-Lites - "There Will Never Be Any Peace (Until God Is Seated At The Conference Table)"

And one last bit of rubbish...

Here are two cuts from the late great Steve Marriott, a bloke who starred as Oliver on the english stage as a child, and grew up to be a big bad boogie woogie rock n roll star. Humble Pie started when Marriott quit the Small Faces after he tried to add Peter Frampton to the group in late 1968.


By 1969, Marriott had woodshedded his new project at his country cottage, and they were developing a bluesy hippie folk blend replete with caftans & lotsa then fashionable hashy sounding hookless hookah inspired jams. Marriott settled on a lineup featuring Frampton whom he'd plucked out of The Herd, Greg Ridley from Spooky Tooth, and young lad named Jerry Shirley from some less lucky combos called Valkryie and Apostolic Intervention.

Within a few years Frampton would have quit, but the band had taken off in America on the concert circuit, and were literally flying high via their own private jet plane filled with black female back up singers & piles of expensive South American powders. They'd have a good run, for a few years...and become one of the early seventies top stateside concert draws. Their live albums were generally better received than their studio works, and the band began known for really stretching out, and doing lotsa crowd pleasing elongated covers of their personal faves rather than waste time churning out their own crap...


Humble Pie weren't too precious to kick out versions of Graham Gouldman's "For Your Love", The Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women", Johnny Kidd and the Pirates' "Shakin' All Over", Ray Charles "Hallelujah I Love Her So" or how about a 1969 setlist staple, their 21 minute Night Trippin' version of Dr. John's "I Walk on Gilded Splinters".

That's not to say they didn't have hits of their own ( check out "Thirt days In The Hole", "I Don't Need No Doctor", or "Stone Cold Fever" for a taste of their own awesome barrelhouse bang ups).

But what you'll hear next is the formative stages, with their tender English roots still dangling before they'd truly gotten Humble Pie off the ground, and prior to the hard living Marriott ending up burnt out with Humble Pie basically disbanded by 1975.

This is from their hopeful, somewhat less assured & vaguely obscured 1969 debut single for Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate label...

 

Enjoy the snappin, cracklin & poppin from a crusty 38 year old dutch pressing that I scored in a likely now defunct Savannah Georgia clothing/record shop called Cha Cha Chiffon's a few years back...

We'll start with the naughty themed B-side called Wrist Job, a song that was never originally part of any official Humble Pie albums until later on after it was compiled into Greatest Hits type collections when Immediate went bankrupt...

Humble Pie - Wrist Job

Here's the "hit"

Small Faces - Natural Born Bugie

Anyhow... if ya like the Humble Pie stuff, lemme know in da comments and I'll do a bit more in depth look back and include some rare Small Faces, Humble Pie and even some later stuff from Marriott before his untimely 1991 death by housefire in the same cottage where Humble Pie had first started.

But these will have to suffice for now...

Gotta Go...

I'll have more music & tall tales in the coming daze of course...

but, check the archives if yer bored, there's over 400 some entries in here...

Sunday, July 15, 2007

All Stars, Amigos & Mutantes & My Usual Meandering

Groovy greetings and happy mid july to you...

I last posted up here over the July 4th weekend... and have dutifully returned with some new things to add to my random rants...

last weekend i managed to catch a few minutes of the "live earth" event, but had heard almost nil about it until it was half over...

if you want to spend 60 seconds reviewing it...it should suffice, as this snarky MTV news blip does




Here's a sonic submission that's circulating from one of the world's most well known acts that can sell in the mighty mega millions for some reason, mostly marketing I suppose ...

I gotta at least give Madonna credit for sharing the international spotlite with Ukranian gypsys flavored punkers Gogol Bordello on stage...

Here's Madge doing her costom crafted Live Earthy tune Hey You... only prob is it ain't super catchy, maybe Madonna has been working more on her upcoming documentary about Malawi, the country she recently had a controversial adoption experience in than her music...

you decide:

Madonna - Hey You


Also last week, San Francisco where I live was invaded by Major League Baseball's All Star game hoopla...and I, being in the event logistics biz was part of it as well...

I was involved in distributing approx 50,000 free samples of a well known soft drink company's products in collectable & not so collectable bottles and cans. In fact I got so involved, I barely escaped getting my foot crushed by an 800 lb palate of cans while loading a forklift during the game in fact...

The night before the game, the event company I helped co-found was also involved in providing some glam & glitter to Barry Bonds' & rapper/Def Jam CEO Jay-Z's party at a South of Market club we do work for...

Barry is standing on our EventMagic red carpet in this video...



it was last used for this event...


 
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anyhow... that situation kept me busy and away from the web and now I return to hoist some music up the bandwidth yer way

First up... speaking of All Stars... here's a video i shot and edited with some pals of our pals the Long Beach Dub All Stars awhile back in 2001...

They were out and about promoting their then brand new Dreamworks release Wonders of The World in a concert we shot live in San Francisco 9/15/2001 at the late great Maritime Hall venue.




Hey I know, lemme drop in some tracks from a boisterous band I'll be catching later today...

Some Brazilian wunderkinds of 40 years back, that being Os Mutantes...It's mainly down ro the two Dias brothers who are obviously older these days, but still having a good time and spreading fresh psychedelic sounds across the planet. I saw 'em last year at The Fillmore, and today's gig is outdoors...and will no doubt be much well lit, likely crowded, and perhaps even livelier...

So I better finish this post so I can get out the door to the Stern Grove Festival in time ...

We'll start with a lo fi sorta soundtrack clip from a Brazilian tv show back in 1969 with Gilberto Gil along for the ride...

Os Mutantes - Domingo No Parque

Here's a better quality audio track from their official greatest hits collection released above the equator on David Byrne's Luaka Bop. This is a real crowd pleaser and gets into that psychedelic mood nicely, I believe the loose translation of the title is "I Feel A Little Spaced Out"...

Os Mutantes - Ando Meio Desligado


And lastly from Os Mutantes here's a remixed version of a fave, can't quite recall when and where I grabbed this...but I believe it's an "unauthorized" remix by English Mash maestro Jools MF...

Os Mutantes - Umbabarauma

Opening the show will be fellow Luaka Bop act Los Amigos Invisibles from Venezuela...

just to be fair...I'll drop a couple of their jazzy-delic latinized tracks in here for ya...

Los Amigos Invisbles - Las Lycras del Avila

Los Amigos Invisibles - Diablo
The New Sound of the Venezuelan Gozadera



Download "Las Lycras del Avila"
(mp3)
from "The New Sound of the Venezuelan Gozadera"
by Los Amigos Invisibles
Luaka Bop

More On This Album



The Venezuelan Zinga Son Vol. 1

Download "Diablo" (mp3)
from "The Venezuelan Zinga Son Vol. 1"
by Los Amigos Invisibles
Luaka Bop

More On This Album


Looks like Prince may not get the chart push he's hoped for this weekend when his album is released as part of a promotion in the UK's Daily Mail newspaper.

Sure enough, the disc will be tacked onto the cover of the sunday paper and move well over 2 million copies... only that he'll not be included as a sale on the popcharts. The latest on this promo ploy below...



me I'm fairly behind the Prince times... have lotsa of his older stuff, scored 3121 within a few weeks of it's release last time around, but just got a copy of 2004's Musicology last week...

Here's a track from some classic Prince from a live show in Stockholm circa 1986 while I wait to taste the latest offering landing on Brit doorsteps today...


Prince - I Would Die 4 U

Monday, June 11, 2007

LA - Paris - Rome - Minneapolis & Holmdel New Jersey

I was in LA this weekend and of course the talk of the town was a certain inmate who'd been freed by a certain sheriff.




Paris Hilton - Stars Are Blind

While that was entertaining on all the tv sets around town, including the sushi bar in Little Tokyo where I grabbed some dinner, other less retarded entertainemnt abounds of course. As I left town my focus was more on the free outdoor street festival on Grand featuring Dengue Fever & Ozomatli, while across town in West Hollywood Joan Jett was tearing it up outdoors at the Pride festival...

here's some sample tracks from those afforementioned musical artists



Ozomatli - April 29th ( sublime cover)

Joan Jett - Hanky Panky


Digi EP

Download
Dengue Fever

"Lost In Laos" (mp3)
from "Digi EP"
by Dengue Fever
M80

More On This Album




Last month when I rolled through downtown area had a free show from The Black Eyed Peas...

here's a special mix from euro mashtress Eve Massacre, incorporating The Bronx, with the Black Eyed peas for all you audio addicts & disco deviants

Eve Massacre - Black Heart Attack

Folks in Minneapolis have reason to rejoice, or at least Prince fans...as the Purple one plans a return for his record release on July 7th, his first show in his hometown since 2004...



Prince - Black Sweat

Prince fan Gwen Stefani's tour has been a bit cursed, first a report of provactive dancing by opening act Akon with young female fans caused controversy, causing Verizon to drop out of it's million dollar sponsorship deal...

Then when Stefani's show hit Holmdel New Jersey, apparently the sh*t was B-A-N-a-N-a-S as fans had a wilder time than anticipated with reports of much underage drinking etc, and suburban police were caught off guard...



Here's some music from that dangerous crowd rousing diva & mom, Gwen Stefani mashed into Miles Davis...

Gwen Stefani - Summatime Girl

and one of her influences

Julie Andrews - The Lonely Goatherd

Meanwhile, speaking of divas Barbara Streisand had to cancel a Rome concert on her first European tour, as Italianns had begun protesting the exhorbitant ticket prices babs and her tour organizers sought. She may wow 'em at Caesar's in las Vegas, but not in Caesar's hometown...



and meanwhile closer to my hometown, a bowling alley has garnered more attention than any big name acts or shows...

sheesh



Frank Black has a new double disc release coming out via Cooking Vinyl this coming week, it highlights the 10 year period from 1993 - 2003. This look at his post Pixies solo career features tracks from the albums he created with his backing band The Catholics and some live material including a cover of the Jan & Dean song "Dead Man's Curve". It also includes previews of material that will reappear on his next solo album as Francis Black. Here's one of the tracks to be featured...

Frank Black - Robert Onion

93-03

Download "Robert Onion" (mp3)
from "93-03"
by Frank Black
Cooking Vinyl

    More On This Album



    that's all for now folks...