Monthly Archives: January 2021

VIA PRESS RELEASE | 1973 soul jazz album from the keyboardist and in-house producer of the Black Jazz label.

​Though it’s hard to pick a winner among the estimable Black Jazz catalog, this 1972 release from bassist Henry “The Skipper” Franklin would have to be near the top of the list. Franklin got his start woodshedding with Latin maverick Willie Bobo in the mid-‘60s and went on to play with The Three Sounds, but probably his most notable gig prior to this debut album was his stint in Hugh Masekela’s band (that’s Franklin playing bass with Masekela at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival).

For The Skipper, Franklin assembled a crack outfit that included a horn section of trumpeter/ flugelhornist Oscar Brashear (Bobby Hutcherson, Ry Cooder, Donny Hathaway) and tenor and soprano sax man Charles Owens (Buddy Rich, Horace Tapscott, John Mayall) along with a Masekela bandmate in electric pianist Bill Henderson and ace drummer Michael Carvin (Pharoah Sanders, Lonnie Liston Smith, Freddie Hubbard).

This is such a unique, organic recording that it’s hard to make comparisons; definitely a little fusion, a little ‘60s Blue Note feel, and the usual Black Jazz journey to the more lyrical, pop-inspired (“Little Miss Laurie”) and funk-infused (“Plastic Creek Stomp”) sides of jazz, but perhaps the best comparison is late-‘60s Miles before he went electric. In any case, The Skipper is just a joy to listen to from start to finish, beautifully recorded by Black Jazz producer Gene Russell and blessed with some really fine writing, most of it by Franklin himself.

Celebrating Lucinda Williams who turns 68 today. —Ed.

With the release of her self-titled 1988 album, the career of singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams experienced a definite upswing. Roughly a decade later her fifth record arrived, and she really broke out. However, she was on the scene a decade prior to cutting Lucinda Williams with a pair of releases on Smithsonian Folkways. In accordance with Women’s History Month, the second is getting freshly reissued on vinyl by the label. It’s a strong LP that considerably predates the Alt-country upsurge; indeed, Williams had a major role in defining the style. 

My introduction to Lucinda Williams came through her “Passionate Kisses” 12-inch back in 1989. It was a casual buy, though not exactly a whim, as I was attracted by the Rough Trade logo on the back, particularly as not long before I’d been impressed by another US signing to the label, specifically Souled American and their debut Fe.

Upon taking it home and disposing of the shrink-wrap, I dropped needle and was immersed in a bright sound with chiming guitar and pretty vocalizing. It was quite far afield from the punk affiliated stuff that was typical of my listening diet at the time. Still, something kept me coming back to it. Well, a few somethings, like that guitar, and how the whole cohered into an exceptional piece of songwriting; a few years hence and “Passionate Kisses” would win her a Grammy through the hit version by Mary Chapin Carpenter.

Overall, I was impressed more by the four tunes on the flip side, three of which were from a radio performance on WPFK, and one cut in New York City in 1983, the bunch underscoring Williams’ aptitude with bluesy material. It was a twist that connected quite nicely to the blues and roots stuff I’d been listening to prior to taking that offramp into punk.

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“The Holy Modal Rounders, myself and Steve Weber, recorded our first album the day before Kennedy got shot.”

“Of course, it was a vinyl record. But our label, Prestige, was not strongly connected to us, as we had been signed by Paul Rothchild, who quit and moved to Elektra two weeks after he signed us. This lack of a strong connection is perhaps the reason Prestige decided to use super cheap vinyl to press our album.

I knew the first pressings looked a little weird—the records seemed to be a little thicker than normal. But within months I started hearing purchasers say their records were wearing out, and the music couldn’t be heard anymore. My inquiries to the label were ignored. Has anyone out there had a similar shoddy vinyl experience?

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Based in the North Holland province of the Netherlands, the trio University Challenged tap into a rich instrumental vein on Oh Temple!, a double set available January 29 through the record label Hive Mind. Blending the expansiveness of kosmische with passages of almost post-rock psychedelia, the guitar’s shimmer and bass’ fuzz mingles with the electronics’ unfurling vines, pulsing patterns, and staticky bursts throughout, as the set’s eight selections bring familiar environments a consistent aura of the unexpected. It’s a delightful ride that’s additionally striking in its assuredness as a debut recording.

University Challenged deliver compositions that tend to stretch out for a while, but the outfit’s bio is a rather tidy affair. The members are multi-instrumentalist Ajay Saggar (credited with guitar, bass, piano, electronica and field recordings), bassist Oli Heffernan (who also plays synth), and guitarist Kohhei Matsuda.

They came together in 2019 with performances following soon thereafter, events notable for including the group’s self-made films as a visual backdrop, with a different video accompanying every track from the album via Bandcamp. The studio recording of Oh Temple! came to fruition last summer in Holland, with Saggar producing and mixing as Heffernan mastered it in England.

Some readers may have noticed the lack of drums in the band’s instrumental scheme, an absence that is undeniably felt through the progression of these pieces, though as repetitive motifs are a frequent element in the equation, University Challenged can still sometimes suggest a foray into expansionist rock that nicely offsets their kosmische ambiance.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Striking while the iron is ice-cold and at least 6 feet away and most definitely masked-up, Sub Pop Records is expanding our retail empire, from one to two locations, with a new space!

​The recently-opened Sub Pop on 7th is a tightly-curated (some might say tiny) new store located at 2130 7th Ave., in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood. The store collects the cream of the crap from Sub Pop and Hardly Art, including t-shirts, hats, hoodies, various knick-knacks, trinkets, and objets d’art conspicuously emblazoned with the words “Sub Pop,” as well as actual vinyl LP copies (aka “records”) of every Hardly Art and Sub Pop release currently in print. Within the limits of Covid safety measures, Sub Pop on 7th is open now. And (unlike the practically world-famous Sub Pop Airport Store…) you don’t risk a cavity search to get in! “This is Sub Pop’s flagship store. It’s long on goodies and short on hours, so beat the rush,” says the label’s co-founder/president Jonathan Poneman.

To celebrate the opening of Sub Pop on 7th, visitors can enter to win a $50 gift card good towards any of the aforementioned goodies in the new shop. Visit us in store and simply sign up for the Sub Pop Mega Mart email list for a chance to win. No purchase is necessary to enter. We will select two #subpopon7th gift card winners per week through February 28th, 2021. We will, of course, remind you often through one or, more likely, all of the following altogether official Sub Pop channels: Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Sub Pop on 7th looks forward to joining our unsuspecting new neighbors including retail outlets Amazon 4-star and South Lake Union Bouquet, food and beverage establishments Casco Antiguo and Joe & The Juice, and the Bright Horizons early education & preschool center. As the adage goes, “Variety is the spice of South Lake Union.”

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Omnivore Recordings, in conjunction with the Buck Owens Estate, will release Buck Owens and the Buckaroos’ The Complete Capitol Singles: 1957–1976, including all three of Omnivore’s previously released acclaimed two-CD sets: The Complete Capitol Singles: 1957–1966, The Complete Capitol Singles: 1967–1970, and The Complete Capitol Singles: 1971–1975. Gathered together in a slipcase, and at available at a new low price, the compilation will be available March 12, 2021.

Taken from the original mono master tapes, The Complete Capitol Singles: 1957–1966 collects all 28 singles from that period, including 13 No. 1 hits, in their original, chronological form, and Buck’s duets with Rose Maddox. Packaging features liner notes from Buck’s autobiography (written with author/ historian Randy Poe), plus an introduction by Dwight Yoakam. The Complete Capitol Singles: 1967–1970 collects the A- and B-sides from the original mono and stereo masters to all 18 singles from that period, including 14 Top Ten hits, and duets with Buddy Alan and Susan Raye.

The third and final volume in the series, The Complete Capitol Singles: 1971–1975, collects the A- and B-sides to all 21 singles from that period, including nine Top Ten hits, and four duets with Rose Maddox. Packaging features liner notes from Bakersfield country historian Scott B. Bomar.

These are the records that made Buck Owens a legend and defined the Bakersfield Sound. It’s history. It’s The Complete Capitol Singles: 1957–1975.

When it comes to the fortunately limited genre of rock concept albums about the history, myths and legends of Merry Olde England, no one holds a sword in the stone to Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman. If you’re like me, the Man in the Golden Cape’s 1975 LP The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table makes for excruciating listening, but look on the bright side–it will earn you three credits towards a degree in Medieval Studies.

Wakeman is one of the most prolific artists of our time–I gave up trying to count the number of albums the keyboard virtuoso has recorded since his 1971 debut when it hit the century mark–but he’s best known for his work in the 1970s, and in particular his commercially successful concept albums (which in addition to this one include 1973’s The Six Wives of Henry VIII and 1974’s Journey to the Center of the Earth). Why on earth he didn’t keep ‘em coming is beyond me–Stonehenge, Robin Hood, the Magna Carta, the War of the Roses, and the execution of Mary Queen of Scots would all have made for essential graduate school listening, and I for one wonder how he managed to miss the Black Plague.

But you take what you can get, and what you get on The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is pageantry and fanfare by way of the New World Orchestra, overwrought vocal flourishes gratis the English Chamber Choir, the overheated to the point of combustion vocals of Gary Pickford-Hopkins, and a narrator of the Vincent Price school, all in the service of Wakeman’s synthesizers, keyboards and grand piano. Depending on your personal tastes, the results inspire either awe or a dash for the nearest wastebasket.

Even a cursory reading of Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung makes clear that Wakeman’s fascination with myth is universal–we all live in the realm of myth, whether we know it or not. Rock and roll, with its gods and goddesses, and villains and heroes, is in and of itself a mythical rhythm–if Elvis, Chuck Berry, and Jerry Lee Lewis aren’t the stuff of myth, who are? The problem lies–and it’s an obvious one–in adapting Arthurian myth to a genre created to address the concerns of adolescents. Wakeman’s progressive rock treatment is the only approach possible, but one has to have a high tolerance for bombast to endure it. It helps if you enjoy Renaissance Faires.

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It’s a Radar music mix this week! Something old, and something new, just for you.

I unearthed a very rare album this week by the Cairo Jazz Band, apparently the first jazz band to ever exist in Egypt! There is a reason this album is so collectible: it’s blend of east and west with expertly executed funk and jazz making it a very unique recording. Gearbox Records has recently released a lost gem with rare material from the legendary trumpeter and cornet-player, Don Cherry. The release entitled “Cherry Jam” (GB1559OBI) was previously only available as a Record Store Day release and features new unheard recordings by Cherry. The EP is to be released as part of the label’s Official Japanese Edition series with a unique obi strip and Japanese liner notes. You’ll hear “Nigeria.”

I continue to delve through some filthy 45s that I recently purchased in an attempt to clean them up and bring them back to life. This week we play Nina Simone’s “Love Me, or Leave Me” which I literally found in a plastic bag at the bottom of a box. Boy, do these old records clean up well; tune in to hear how great it sounds!

Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Pendulum and Mardi Gras albums are set for half-speed mastered 180-gram vinyl reissues so we’re getting into the CCR swing with a tune you know and probably love; we’ll look at some deeper cuts in the weeks to come. Got any requests? Little Richard’s Southern Child album also gets taken out for a spin this week; it’s a country album that Richard recorded in the early ’70s, but was mysteriously left unreleased…until Omnivore Records found it and gave it the release it deserves.

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“For those of us whose parents grew up during the Soviet Union, vinyl was associated with something much more than just a means to music or a stylish expression.”

“Vinyl—at least those from the West—were banned in the Soviet Union and we remember hearing stories from our parents of how their friends would secretly find ways of how to get a copy of Stevie Wonder, Queen, Emerson Lake and Palmer, King Crimson or Weather Report over the border in hopes to listen to something unknown and censored by the government. Those vinyl were passed on to our parents and naturally that’s the music that passed on to us. Holding vinyl was a symbol of protest, a hunger for freedom, and a social statement.

Decades past since our parents were young and new technology came, vinyl sort of lost their significance after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 as a whole wave of other information came in. And with all of that, vinyl slowly made their way either to the basement, behind shelves, between books or stuffed in boxes.

Then we—the kids—came along. Looking through our parents’ vinyl was like looking into the past, digging into history and trying to decode what exactly it meant for them to have one. For them vinyl were sort of like books, where one would seek for a new stream of information, life and ideas. It is incredible to see the extent of how much care and art was put into vinyl decades ago. The music wasn’t just another “single” out there to be uploaded on a phone but it was a whole commitment of living, a stance for what one believes in, an urge for something more.

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For the past week or so I’ve been walking around singing “In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida” in a resonant voice, pretty much nonstop. I don’t sing all 19 minutes of it, mind you. You can’t sing a drum solo. Still, my significant other is threatening divorce, and we’re not even married.

A monolithic monument of molten metal sung by a guy with enunciation problems, Iron Butterfly’s 1968 “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” (on the LP of the same title) hit the charts at the dawning of the progressive rock era, when 19-minute song cycles with titles like “Crystals Medusa” or “King Arthur’s Gelatinous Sceptre” were beginning to blight the musical landscape. There is nothing “progressive” about the 19 minutes of “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida”–the song’s a regressive return to the primitive simplicity of “Louie Louie” and anybody–even me–could play it, for hours if mood struck.

“In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” is all primal force, an implacable juggernaut that grinds exceedingly fine–you don’t listen to it as much as get out of its way. Forget the Age of Aquarius–to quote Blue Öyster Cult, “This ain’t the garden of Eden… and this ain’t the summer of love.”

No, it’s the most ominous song about Adam and Eve’s playground ever–guitarist Erik Braun’s repeated fuzz-guitar riff, keyboard player/vocalist Doug Ingle’s ominous church organ, and Lee Dorman’s speaker-shuddering bass are all menace, and the only problem I have with the song–and it’s a serious one–is the way its forward motion is interrupted by a couple of lengthy solos–the first (unconscionably) by Ron Bushy on drums and the second by Ingle on organ. I’d have preferred a impregnable wall of heavy metal noise with no exits, no interruptions, no let up—the West Coast’s retort to the Velvet Underground’s “Sister Ray.”

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