Charles Bradley – Strictly Reserved For You
2013 is shaping up to be a banner year for retro-styled soul sounds. As you’ll see over the next few weeks there have been a number of brand new dynamite soul releases already this year. Charles Bradley’s 2nd album for Dunham/Daptone, Victim Of Love, builds on the debut and adds some new wrinkles into the “Screaming Eagle Of Soul” repetoire. “Stricly Reserved For You” was our first taste of the new record and it remains to my ears the strongest track.
All vinyl yesterday on the double bill holiday Sunday for Easter and Cesar Chavez Day. Also threw in a birthday song for Gil Scott Heron. The rest is a blur since I never plan out these all-vinyl affairs and a lot of times I’m switching out records just before I have to bring them up live into the mix. For the most part I think things worked out nicely, probably my favorite moment of serendipity was going from Canned Heat to the New York Dolls…hope you enjoy the show too.
Melting Pot on KPFK #120: First Hour
Melting Pot on KPFK #120: Second Hour
Playlist: 03-31-2013
{opening theme} Boris Gardiner – Melting Pot – Is What’s Happening (Dynamic)
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Mind Garage – The Electric Liturgy – Again! (RCA)
David Axelrod – Gloria – Mass In F Minor (Reprise)
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Billy Stewart – Reap What You Sow – Remembered (Chess)
Eddie Palmieri – Si Las Nenas Me Dejan, Que – Champagne (Tico)
General Crook – What Time Is It? (Pt. 2) – 7” (Down To Earth)
Butterfield Blues Band – All In A Day – Keep On Moving (Elektra)
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Nicole Willis & the Soul Investigators – It’s All Because Of You – 7” (Timmion)
The Purpose – Jump Up – The Purpose (ABC)
Canned Heat – World In A Jar – Boogie With Canned Heat (Liberty)
New York Dolls – Human Being – Too Much Too Soon (Mercury)
The Flamin’ Groovies – Yesterdays Numbers – Teenage Head (Kama Sutra)
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Ray Camacho Group – Si Se Puede – Salsa Chicana (Luna)
Edan – Echo Party (excerpt) – Echo Party (Traffic Ent.)
Jorge Ben – Ponte De Lanca Africano (Umbabarauma) – Africa Brasil (Philips)
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Gil Scott-Heron – Ain’t No Such Thing As A Superman – First Minute Of A New Day (Arista)
Junior Mance – Thank You Falletin Me Be Mice Elf Agin – With A Lotta Help From My Friends (Atlantic)
Gas Mask – Thank You My Dear – Their First Album (Tonsil)
Charlie Palmieri – Las Negritas De Carnaval – Electro Duro (Coco)
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Al Jarreau – Brite ‘n’ Sunny Babe – All Fly Home (WB)
Tim Maia – Ela Partiu – Nobody Can Live Forever (Luaka Bop)
U.S. 69 – Never A Day Goes By – Yesterday’s Folks (Buddah)
Lebron Brothers Orchestra – Don’t Be Afraid – Brothers (Cotique)
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{closing theme} Kenny Baker – Mississippi Waltz – Plays Bill Monroe (County)
Charlie Palmieri – Las Negritas De Carnaval
Charlie Palmieri – Taxi Driver
Charlie Palmieri – Swing Y Son
Recently picked up this one and realized I’ve never owned a record from Charlie Palmieri. I generally don’t come around too many of them, but it seems I’ve always favored Eddie. Aside from an intriguing cover, this one seemed like a nice one to cop, especially with a line-up that features Roberto Roena, Tito Puente, Cachao and Cortijo. Palmieri puts the “electro” in Electro Duro by playing what sounds like one of those bizarro organs that’s in tons of 1970s cumbia tracks. It’s not a sound you hear with Salsa Dura, at times it sounds gimmicky, at times it seems to strangely fit, especially on “Swing Y Son” and “Las Negritas De Carnaval” where the sound of that organ cuts through the rhythm. In fact, I kinda wish there had been more of that organ on “The Taxi Driver,” a latin funk track that has B-Boy written all over it, if not for a slightly wonky trumpet part that I find distracting. Worth a listen and worth more than a few spins.
Cheers,
Michael
Jason Molina – The Harvest Law
Even though I considered myself a long time fan of Jason Molina’s work, at his passing I was overwhelmed with how much music the man recorded. One of the drawbacks of working at a station that has no working library and no highly organized music department is that you are 100% responsible for tracking down your music. In times where there is a lot going on personally, such as grading which tends to be the thing that takes me far away from my “life” as a DJ, it means that I’m not able to stay up on new releases. At Molina’s passing I was particularly saddened that I hadn’t heard of what would be his final release before death, 2012’s Autumn Bird Songs. The collection wasn’t meant to be a swan song. It was meant to be a compliment to artwork from William Schaff (that’s some of his work on the cover) in a book called From Blacksheep Boys to Bill Collectors. As possibly Molina’s final statement, the EP is a heartbreaker. Hearing the changes in Molina’s voice give you a sense why he felt it was important enough to take a hiatus to work on his health issues. The wounded quality of Molina’s voice gives “The Harvest Law” an even greater weight than it’s cryptic lyrics suggest. There’s a finality present as he counts down “twelve fires,” a process that sounds as if the world is ending, made all the more terrifying through the knowledge that there will be no more from Jason Molina.
Yesterday’s show featured some new music, but it was really all about the tribute to Jason Molina in the second hour. As I’ve mentioned here, I’ve been a big fan of Molina’s music ever since I first heard him in 1997. His music has been a constant companion on many a road trip and more than perhaps any other musician from the “heroic years” of indie-music the songs Molina crafted stick in your mind and find their way deep down. The hour of music I put together isn’t meant to be a full retrospective or an attempt at a comprehensive look at his career. As fitting the deeply personal nature of the man’s music, it’s simply the songs of Molina’s that I loved the most, heavily tilted towards those early years of Songs: Ohia, but also featuring a few songs that I’ve recently discovered in the time since his passing. Currently virtually of Molina’s music is available on the Magnolia Electric Co. website. He will be truly missed…
Melting Pot on KPFK #119: First Hour
Melting Pot on KPFK #119: Second Hour
Playlist: 03-24-2013
{opening theme} Booker T & the Mgs – Melting Pot – 7” (Stax)
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Shuggie Otis – Wings Of Love – Inspiration Information/Wings of Love (Legacy)
Toure Kunda – Amadou Tilo – Change The Beat: The Celluloid Records Story 1980-1987 (Strut)
The Heliocentrics – Collateral Damage – 13 Degrees of Reality (Now-Again)
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Billy Bragg – Handyman Blues – Tooth & Nail (Cooking Vinyl)
Lady – Habit – Lady (Truth & Soul)
Philip Owusu – Goodnight – Subs (Self-Released)
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Ghostface Killah & Adrian Younge feat. William Hart – Enemies – 12 Reasons To Die (Soul Temple)
Jose James – Bird of Space – No Beginning, No End (Blue Note)
Nicole Willis & the Soul Investigators – On The East Side – Tortured Soul (Timmion)
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Songs: Ohia – Cabwaylingo – Songs: Ohia (Secretly Canadian)
Songs: Ohia – Love & Work – Axxess & Ace (Secretly Canadian)
Songs: Ohia – Crab Orchard – Songs: Ohia (Secretly Canadian)
Songs: Ohia – Baby Take A Look – The Lioness (Secretly Canadian)
Songs: Ohia – Our Republic – Songs: Ohia (Secretly Canadian)
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Amalgamated Sons of Rest – I Will Be Good – Amalgamated Sons of Rest EP (Galaxia)
Songs: Ohia – How To Be Perfect Men – Axxess & Ace (Secretly Canadian)
Magnolia Electric Co. – Farewell Transmission – Magnolia Electric Co. (Secretly Canadian)
Songs: Ohia – Gauley Bridge – Songs: Ohia (Secretly Canadian)
Songs: Ohia – Soul – Nor Cease Thou Never Now 7” (Palace Records)
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Jason Molina – The Harvest Law – Autumn Bird Songs EP (Graveface)
Songs: Ohia – Blue Factory Flame – Didn’t It Rain (Secretly Canadian)
Songs: Ohia – Goodnight Lover – Axxess & Ace (Secretly Canadian)
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{closing theme} Dungen – C. Visar Vagen – Tio Batar (Kemado)
Kenny Baker – Mississippi Waltz
Kenny Baker – Wheel Hoss
Kenny Baker – Jerusalem Ridge
Kenny Baker – Lonesome Moonlight Waltz
Since this is my closing theme each time we have an all-vinyl show on Melting Pot, I’m really surprised that I haven’t posted this album before. The story of how I came to find this record, the only bluegrass album I own, and what many consider the best bluegrass record ever recorded, goes back to my time in Wisconsin at WORT-FM. In addition to hosting a jazz program there I was also the volunteer coordinator, which meant I was at the station during the day for long periods of time which means I got to hear most of our weekly programming and meet and talk with most of the people there during the day. The highlight of my week was without a doubt being able to hear what is probably the finest country music program in the entire nation, Back To The Country, with Bill Malone, family and friends. On the show, Malone used a couple of “old-timey” waltzes as bed music, generally for concert calendars. “Mississippi Waltz” was one that stuck in my mind, but for some reason I never thought to ask him what the song and the artist was for the music. Many many years later, far away from Madison, while I lived in California, from time to time the melody from that song would creep back into my mind and I’d kick myself for not figuring it out while I was at the station.
Eventually the misery and mystery got to me. I recorded myself whistling as much as I could remember about the song, which ended up being about 45 seconds of the melody, and sent the recording to Bill Malone. Thankfully my ears held on to just enough of the song to make it easy for him (though he did marvel at my whistlin’ skills and my ability to hold that melody in my mind for what must have been some 6 or 7 years) and finally I was able to track down what is truly one of the most lovely things I’ve ever heard. Kenny Baker is revered as one of the best fiddler players to have ever walked the earth. It doesn’t take long listening to this music to figure out why that was the case.
“Wheel Hoss” is one of the tunes that convinced Baker to give up Western Swing and focus full-time on Bluegrass. “Lonesome Moonlight Waltz” and “Jerusalem Ridge” must have been standards of the Bill Monroe repetoire. I’m still pretty flat out amazed that this recording was the very first one of “Mississippi Waltz.” As I mentioned above, it’s honestly one of the prettiest things I’ve ever heard and likely will ever hear. To think Monroe just had the tune sittin’ on a shelf is just mind boggling, as were the talents of Bill Monroe and the legendary Kenny Baker.
Cheers,
Michael
{Molina’s Label, Secretly Canadian, has chosen to honor his memory by streaming all of his recorded works, take the time to dig in and get lost…}
Word came out and hit like a punch in the gut for a lot of people who care about good music, Jason Molina passed away this past Saturday at the far too young age of 39. For just about the past 20 years Molina has produced some of the most fascinating, frustrating, inscrutable, passionate and soulful music in virtual obscurity. I first came to hear of Molina in 1996 or 1997 when his debut release as Songs: Ohia was released. I wasn’t able to get the record added to our playlist at Album 88, but I sure played the hell out of it when I could and kept on playing Molina’s music wherever else I could on the radio. Songs from that first record were required listening on many a road trip over the years. More than anyone other recent singer/songwriter, besides perhaps Elliot Smith, the music of Jason Molina has a haunting quality that sticks with you. It’s not a sound for everyone, but if it is for you, well I’m sure you’re like me and deeply mourning the loss of a talented though troubled man. I’ll be playing an hour of Molina’s music this Sunday on Melting Pot, here are 5 songs that will definitely be in the playlist.
Songs: Ohia – Our Republic
More than any other song “Our Republic” is the one that keeps finding it’s way into my mind. Part of it is in the lyrics, which for the most part are as inscrutable as much of the other songs on the debut, but in what passes for a chorus there is this lovely line that’s always stuck with me, “you should know, trouble comes from a passionate word, you should know passion comes from a troublesome word.” Musically the song is marvel for a particular reason. After all these years of listening to it I still can’t tell if the instrument at the end is a saxophone or violin/viola. Charles Mingus talked about how if he had a group of bass players as talented as him they could mimic a horn section. To my ears it sounds like this might be one of those rare instances. I never heard anything quite like it, so it makes sense that it would pop up here in one of the first songs I’d hear from such a distinctive musician.
Songs: Ohia – How To Be The Perfect Man
Whereas the debut record seemed to be built out of esoteric lyrics put together in ways that didn’t even seem like they were from the 20th century, many later albums mined much more clearly personal territory while retaining Molina’s distinctive sense of phrasing. “Perfect Man” is less a tutorial than a plea from Molina. He knows he’s not the perfect man, he knows he’s never going to be a perfect man, but he’s still hopeful that the woman he loves will “Be mine, til you’re reminded of something better, be mine, til it comes along.”
Songs: Ohia – Baby Take A Look
It wasn’t until Molina’s death that I reaquainted myself with this stunner from the Lionness. In contrast to the pain of love lost that was often in a number of songs from this period of Molina’s writing, “Baby Take A Look” is awfully tender. It strikes me as the kind of thing that might have been written in reply to an argument and as a reminder of the love he had to share.
Songs: Ohia – Goodnight Lover
In a career of fine and distinctive songwriting, in my opinion, this is the best song Molina ever wrote. Such a personal appeal to a former lover that I always felt the performance was almost too intimate for anyone else’s ears than the person it was written for. A true heartbreaker for sure.
Songs: Ohia – Blue Factory Flame
It’s truly astounding looking at the full career output of Jason Molina. Prolific doesn’t even seem like it fits the body of work. I was amazed at how many recordings I’d never even heard and while I can’t say every single song speaks to me in the way his earliest recordings did, “Blue Factory Flame” was one of the tracks that stopped me in my tracks. It’s hard to listen to these lyrics, so focused on his own end of days, a little over a week after his death. While I feel “Goodnight Lover” is the best thing Molina ever wrote, I’m not sure there’s any thing he ever more deeply sung than this track.
In a show full of fantastic brand new music last week, I think the biggest revelation was this track from the Belgian group Amatorski. I hadn’t heard anything from the group before, and the first couple of tracks that I heard from this were filled with promise, but didn’t fully grab me. All that changed with “Never Told,” which begins soulful and sparse with piano, drums and bass and continues a nice slow burn when the two vocalists are added. Things open up unexpectedly towards the end as a variety of more post-rock elements enter in giving the whole song a decidely cinematic feel and scope. TBC’s other tracks may be a bit too experimental for this group to find a large audience here in the states, but “Never Told” is easily one of the most marvelous things I’ve heard in 2013, already something I can guarantee will be there at the end of the year when we run down the best music of the year.
I’d like to say that I waited to post this until today so that Biz Markie’s “Spring Again” would be synched up with the first actual day of spring, but truth is I’ve just been swamped in grading for Long Beach and have only had the chance to edit and upload the show today. Sunday’s show started with the aforementioned classic, our traditional start of spring song, and also paid tribute to St. Patrick’s Day with a couple songs from the Pogues in the second hour. Throughout the rest of the show there is a TON of new music, much of it exceptional soul music of every possibility variety of the word. We got new music from Lady, Ghostface Killah + adrian Younge, Charles Bradley, Nicole Willis, Philip Owusu, Alice Russell, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Amatorski and classic material from Fela, Jimi Hendrix and Richard Hell thrown in for good measure. We’ll dig deeper into some of these new releases this Sunday and see what other goodies I’m able to dig up too.
Melting Pot on KPFK #118: First Hour
Melting Pot on KPFK #118: Second Hour
The Heads – Digging Your Head
The Heads – Land Of The Stoned Soul
The Heads – Are You Lonely For Me Baby
Don’t really have much to say about this one, I don’t know too much about this band and don’t have the time to do the proper research (swamped in grading right now, maybe I’ll revise this one later). When I ran into this album at Amoeba I had vague recollections of running into it before though I’d never owned it. So many elements on the mental checklist, interesting original titles, choice covers, mentions of “soul” in the liner notes…but really it all came down to the fact that dude on the cover looks just like Mongo from Blazing Saddles. Dropped the needle and the band sounded almost exactly the way I thought they would. Yes indeed, I’m digging the Heads.
Cheers,
Michael
Adrian Younge & William Hart – Stand Up
Been sitting on this one for months and months, but finally it has been released! Adrian Younge has been exceptionally busy over the last year, working on three separate records in addition to scoring Cartoon Network’s Black Dynamite. This record is sandwitched in between his own album with his group Venice Dawn and the upcoming collab with Ghostface Killah of the Wu-Tang. AY and the Delfonics makes a ton of sense stylistically. The Delfonics’ sound, especially in the early period, had a lush, deep and dark quality to it. As such, the distinctive falsetto of William Hart fits perfectly with Adrian’s music. it’s rare that a dream match-up actually sounds exactly how you’d picture it, but here it is…enjoy it to the fullest.
Added bonus, the retro 1990s styled video for the lead single “Stop & Look”:
First week of fundraising for us during the first fundraiser of 2013 started off a little shaky. I was expecting Sean Osborn of KPFK’s Soundwaves to pitch with me, but he came down with a bout of food poisoning and so it was just me flying solo. We still did pretty good, raising $1300 of a $1500 goal, and might have exceeded it if not for the fact that everybody and their mother (perhaps literally) decided to call in the last 5 minutes of the show! Hopefully next week we’ll be able to get people to spread things out a bit more. We’ll have the same amazing 6 pack of CDs and some new goodies to throw at you as well. Hope you’ll tune in and if you can please do donate to KPFK and support Melting Pot!
Melting Pot on KPFK #117: First Hour
Melting Pot on KPFK #117: Second Hour
Heard the news that Shadow Morton passed away on Valentine’s Day, as I was driving home from my show on KPFK this past week. Shadow Morton is perhaps best known as the driving force behind one of the greatest girl groups ever, The Shangri-Las. As I’ve mentioned on this blog before, the Shangri-Las are one of my all-time favorite bands and “Remember” is one of the most amazing songs I’ve ever heard. When I set up a “Pound For Pound” between the Shangri-Las and Ronettes, I acknowledged that the Shangri-Las had a more lasting influence and strangely enough it seems Shadow Morton himself took notice.
I don’t know if that was really Shadow Morton or not, but I’d like to hold on to the idea that it was. Morton wrote songs, produced and recorded a number of bands in the 1960s and 1970s. According to his NY Times obituary, Morton wrote over 300 songs, most of which were never recorded. I sincerely hope his family finds a way to get those songs into the hands of gifted musicians so that we will be able to get an even fuller appreciation of Morton’s considerable talent. With the fundraiser ongoing at KPFK (including an Oscar special this week, we’ll be back on the air next week), I won’t be able to pay proper tribute to Morton, but I wanted to definitely take a bit of time to mention a few of my favorite Shadow Morton songs/productions.
The Shangri-Las – “Remember (Walking In The Sand)”
While “Be My Baby” is still my favorite girl group song of all-time, “Remember” as a song is so much more stunning. Nothing else really sounds like this song. Yes, it has elements of the style of the time, but the way everything comes together is so distinctive and fascinating sonically that again there’s really no comparison to this song and any other from this period of time. The fact that Morton essentially put this together in a matter of hours, all of it, writing the song, finding the band and a space to record the demo, is absolutely astounding.
The Shangri-Las – “Give Him A Great Big Kiss”
I know “Leader Of The Pack” is the big song from the Shangri-Las, another track that Shadow Morton wrote for the group. But to me, there’s nothing better than Mary Weiss’ introduction to this song, “When I say I’m in love, you best believe I’m in Love…L.U.V.”! and later on when the girls ask Mary about her new man and she says “He’s a Good Bad, but he’s not Evil”…pure bad girl perfection.
Vanilla Fudge – “You Keep Me Hanging On”
For some time I was a really big fan of the Box Tops version of this track, until I realized that Vanilla Fudge were the first group to employ this over-the-top rocked out treatment of the Supreme’s hit. As much as I love Alex Chilton, there’s really no comparison, particularly in those drums from Carmine Appice, who later on would feature in one my favorite 1970s LPs, from Cactus. The fact that this was “directed” by Shadow Morton (as described on the 45), just makes it even more special.
Iron Butterfly – “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida”
This one might be more legend than reality. But even though he is uncredited, it appears that Shadow Morton played a major part in this classic bit of psychedelic music. Apparently the band had a hard time recording this song, so Morton convinced them that there was some kind of malfunction but that they should keep playing to work out the kinks, while secretly recording the unsuspecting band. Morton himself at times confirmed the story and at other times mentioned how he was so drunk that he didn’t really remember too much, so it might have all been because of engineer Don Casale. No matter what, it’s such a great story and it is clear that Morton was in the studio, even if he never receivetd a formal credit.
New York Dolls – “Human Being”
It was pretty clear that the New York Dolls were fans of the Shangri-Las, after appropriating the opening lines of “Great Big Kiss” for their song “Looking For A Kiss” on their debut. It must have been a dream come true for the band to work with Morton on their second album Too Much Too Soon, one of the best examples of Rock’n’Roll America has ever produced. “Human Being” might just be my favorite song from the Dolls, and it’s something that wouldn’t sound quite the same without production from Shadow Morton.