Author Archives: Joseph Neff

There are One Hit Wonders and One Album Wonders, and occasionally the paths of those two dubious honors intersect. One such instance is UK group Thunderclap Newman, mostly celebrated for their single “Something in the Air” but also noted for their only LP, 1969’s Hollywood Dream. The record contains that superb single, but it also features a surplus of additional charm, and while its profile has increased substantially, it’s sadly plagued by its reputation as the sole document from one of rock’s notable underachievers.

And to be blunt, Thunderclap Newman is a questionable entry into the club of the One Album Wonder anyway. They have the solitary LP down pat, but a passionate bout of quibbling just might break out over the Wonder part of the equation. For Hollywood Dream, released after “Something in the Air” spent three weeks as a UK number one hit, was something of a stiff in terms of sales. It climbed no higher than #161 in the US album chart, and the single was a bit of an American sleeper, making it to only #37. And in an odd twist, apparently the LP was even more coolly received in their home country.

When the band’s back-story is added into the mix, Hollywood Dream’s landing with a splat of relative indifference becomes something of a persistent head-scratcher. Vocalist/drummer John “Speedy” Keen had previously penned “Armenia City in the Sky” for The Who’s 1967 album The Who Sell Out. Pianist and band namesake Andy Newman looked like a dry run for the likes of Bun E. Carlos and banged on the keys like an auxiliary member of the Bonzo Dog Band. A suitable nickname for their young guitarist would be “The Kid,” or maybe even better “The Face,” for it’d be well nigh impossible to find a more splendiferously Mod figure than the one cut by Jimmy McCulloch on the record’s cover.

Throw in that Pete Townsend played bass on the LP and its lack of performance is indeed a stumper. It’s in essence an album tailor made for Beatles fans, registering at times like a slightly more twee incarnation of Badfinger, though they never cross the line into the precious. Maybe the problem was that at the point of the record’s release The Beatles hadn’t really broken up yet (though the end was certainly near). However, Badfinger’s sales figures in ’70 and ’71 surely benefited from the realization of many that their favorite band was no longer extant.

Read More »

It’s International Reggae Day! —Ed.

When it gets hot and muggy, some of the surefire ways to adjust to the severity of climate include shedding all unnecessary clothing, raising the intake on cold beverages, and even submerging oneself in a cool body of water. All no brainers, I know. But along with attempting to beat the heat, a person can also just get into the spirit of the season, and one of the best avenues to that goal is a musical one; simply crank up some prime Jamaican reggae. Natty Cultural Dread, the 1976 LP from the man known as Big Youth, is a particularly fitting soundtrack to sweating it up in the summertime.

The collecting of Jamaican music, especially on LP, can be a rather daunting endeavor. I’ve mentioned this before in relation to other forms/styles, but it bears repeating here; there’s just so much Jamaican material of quality and in so many different, equally enticing subgenres, that getting a handle on the whole heap is at this late date basically beyond anyone not slinging a slush-fund of downright spectacular proportions, to say nothing of the deluxe hutch needed to house all those records once they’ve been acquired.

To continue retracing a theme, it’s situations like this one that expose the completist urge, at least when it’s combined with a diverse musical interest, as sheer folly. But hey, there’s no need to get into a funk about it; just shoot for the essentials, and after that, let the chips fall where they may. In terms of personal collecting (in contrast to extensive libraries, which have their own allure), it’s the uniqueness of those fallen chips that makes checking out the contents of specific collections so enlightening; a person’s record stash, whether large with experience or small but growing with budding enthusiasm, is as individual as a thumbprint and yet (hopefully) in a state of perpetual growth.

And just as interesting will be the varying responses to the nature of the “essential.” Writers and gabbers on music (and art in general) often employ the term as an objective truth that’s in accord with the dictionary definition of the word, but no matter how much writing and gabbing gets done, there’s no denying the inherent subjectivity of art. Everybody responds to music differently, which is why so much ink and breath accompanies its creation.

Read More »

Led by bassist Johnathon Ford, Tulsa, OK’s Unwed Sailor have been active since the late 1990s, honing a largely non-vocal approach that has been occasionally described as post-rock but with stylistic affinities that span back to the ’80s and are often appealingly Anglocentric in nature. With the release of Look Alive, Unwed Sailor’s discography now totals six full-length records plus a slew of singles and EPs. The latest holds up strong and encourages repeated spins through consistent depth of feeling. It’s out now on vinyl, CD and cassette through Old Bear Recordings, with the wax distributed by Light in the Attic.

The achievements detailed above are considerable; to keep a band not only active for over 20 years but producing worthwhile material throughout the duration is a rarity, but Jonathan Ford has also been a part of Roadside Monument and Pedro the Lion (in both cases prior to the formation of Unwed Sailor) plus he’s collaborated with Damien Jurado, Early Day Miners and more.

Ford has been the only constant member of Unwed Sailor, though Matthew Putman has played drums and added percussion since the outfit’s sophomore long-player from 2003, The Marionette and the Music Box. David Swatzell is the relative newbie of the group, though he was the guitarist on 2019’s Heavy Age, a self-released double-album that has been described as the byproduct of a “dark period” for Ford.

Conversely, Look Alive is said to derive from “a place of strength and inspiration.” After time spent with both records, there are a few passages on each where the specific circumstances and mindsets surrounding their making can be pinpointed, but it’s frankly much easier to discern the unity of style across the two releases as Unwed Sailor deliver a focused sound that’s energetic but also textured.

Read More »

Although some have managed to expand upon his groundbreaking intensity and flights of abstraction, Albert Ayler is one of the few sui generis figures in the history of jazz. An uncompromising player with only a small following in his lifetime in music, he cut a record in 1968 that initially seemed to satisfy nobody except for (perhaps) Ayler himself. That LP was New Grass, lambasted as a sell-out by those who favored his prior work, while less adventurous listeners weren’t buying. The album has been reevaluated since however, and Third Man has given it a vinyl reissue that’s available now. In the label’s storefronts and select indie shops it can even be found on coke bottle clear 180-gram wax with opaque green wisps.

I’ve been contributing to this column for over eight years, but until this piece, I haven’t delivered a full review of a record by Albert Ayler, who’s one of my favorite jazzmen, though I have included him in this site’s New In Stores column and in at least one group review. As this omission is remedied, I feel it should be immediately qualified that the term jazzman isn’t necessarily a tidy fit for Ayler’s brilliance.

Albert Ayler was certainly a man whose work falls inside the boundaries of jazz, so calling him a jazzman isn’t in error, but it still might give those unfamiliar with his work the false impression of a figure, sharply decked-out in a classic tailored suit maybe, who excelled at extending, through live gigs and studio sessions, the core tenets of Modern Jazz.

While innovators are surely jazzmen and vice versa, Ayler remains one of the ever-evolving form’s major freedom-seeking iconoclasts. In short, he’s best placed in the avant-jazz category, which means that for long stretches after his death in November 1970 (presumably by suicide, as his body was discovered in the East River of NYC) his music was difficult to obtain. This was especially true at the end of the 1980s, which is when I first learnt of his existence.

Read More »

There are a few utterly joyful experiences in this world, and one of them is the music of Joseph Spence. In 1958 while on a field recording expedition in the Bahamas, Samuel Charters captured Spence’s unique guitar playing and idiosyncratic singing; the combination is amongst the most infectious entries in the folk canon. Those tapes comprise Bahaman Folk Guitar: Music from the Bahamas, Vol. 1, first issued by Folkways in ’59, and has received a welcome reissue by the label, tucked into an old-school tip-on jacket with the original liner notes.

From Andros Island in the Bahamas and a stonemason by trade, Joseph Spence is one of folk music’s true originals. The notes to this reissue emphasize the importance of the guitar to Bahaman life during the period of its recording, and amongst no shortage of talent on the instrument, Spence was acknowledged as the best around. He tapped into the three threads of song popular in the island nation at that time; the older “anthem” songs, southern USA-derived spirituals, and the “folk songs” that accompanied dancing and enlivened parties.

When Charters first heard him, playing for workers as they built a house, the folklorist was convinced a second guitarist was accompanying him nearby. Later that day, on the other side of the settlement of Fresh Creek, Charters recorded Spence entertaining a small gathered audience. This LP offers the bulk of that impromptu session, a landmark in personal folk expression that resulted in subsequent releases on Elektra, Arhoolie, and Rounder.

I first read of Joseph Spence in Byron Coley’s “Underground” column in SPIN magazine, the April 1988 issue in fact, though by the time I caught up with it, that edition was about a year old. It took me good while longer than that to hear the guy’s stuff, as the store racks turned up nothing, and the same with the libraries in my area. Of the locals I consulted who were affirmative of Spence’s stature, none were record collectors. Those were the days.

Read More »

For lovers of ultra-wicked funkiness, the name Betty Davis is an aphrodisiac of uncommon potency; a few years back her string of ’70s underground classics found deserving reissue by Light in the Attic, and the label has released her very enlightening late ’60s sessions. Cut prior to and during her brief marriage to trumpeter Miles Davis, The Columbia Years 1968-1969 illuminates a formative but highly productive period in the career of a considerable talent who remains too seldom heard.

Before getting hitched she was Betty Mabry; Miles nuts know it’s her picture on the cover of ’68’s Filles de Kilimanjaro and that the album’s closing track “Mademoiselle Mabry” is named after her. However, it’s important to note that she wasn’t discovered by Davis, having cut a pop single for Frank Sinatra arranger Don Costa’s DCP International label in ’64 as her song “Uptown” was covered by The Chambers Brothers on Time Has Come Today in ’67.

As related in John Ballon’s liner notes for this set, it was through her involvement in a group of trendsetting women known as the “Cosmic” or “Electric Ladies” that Miles came under her sway, with the impact of the younger on the older extending to the musical. This may seem questionable to casual observers given the hugeness of Miles’ legend, but the situation is borne out by the facts.

Mabry and her cohorts’ passion for the “avant-garde pop music” (in Miles’ description) of Hendrix, Sly Stone, and Santana opened the trumpeter’s eyes as he sat on the cusp of his electric period, with this connection having been previously articulated in Davis’ autobiography; the uncovering of these (astoundingly never bootlegged) vault recordings gives his statement even deeper credence.

Read More »

Born in Syracuse, NY, with time spent in California and Chicago, Nicole Mitchell is a flautist, composer, bandleader, and teacher. Hailing from Houston, TX, Lisa E. Harris is an interdisciplinary artist, performer, composer, and singer of striking, often operatic, power and feeling. The new release EarthSeed is their collaboration, inspired by the works of the late, very great and remarkably prescient science-fiction novelist Octavia E. Butler, and featuring Mitchell’s long-running Black Earth Ensemble with vocalist Julian Otis in a prominent role. The results demand the listener’s attention but also offer moments of humor along with marvelous singing and playing. It’s out June 26 on 2LP, CD, and digital through FPE Records.

EarthSeed is directly inspired by Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, Octavia E. Butler’s two novels from the 1990s, those books comprising her third thematic science-fiction series (after the Patternist and Xenogenesis collections) and the late-work (she passed on February 24, 2006, a year after publishing her final standalone novel Fledgling) that underscores her literary foresight in relation to the unpredictable, stressful and at times downright unsettling nature of current events.

With this said, per Mitchell in the PR for this release, “All the words and all the text in the music are ours, they’re not Octavia’s,” that is, “except for the word EarthSeed” (the cover art is “Patternmaster,” from Krista Franklin’s 2006 artist’s book SEED (The Book of Eve)). It’s also important to note that the music was recorded in performance at the Art Institute of Chicago’s Fullerton Hall on June 22, 2017 (by commission), and that Mitchell’s Butler-inspired work spans back to her Xenogenesis Suite from 2008 and Intergalactic Beings from 2014.

FPE’s background for EarthSeed also relates how Harris discovered Butler’s writing as she worked on her opera Lilith. This was four years prior to meeting Mitchell in New Orleans while attending the New Quorum Composers’ Residency (the other composers invited were Wadada Leo Smith and Damon Locks). Upon discovering their mutual appreciation for Butler’s books, they immediately decided to create as a team a work inspired by the author.

Read More »

As they were the first all-female rock band to release an LP on a major label, you might be surprised that Fanny isn’t a household name, especially as they were a solid four-piece who in their first recording incarnation cut four albums for the Warner Brothers subsidiary Reprise. But the reality is that Fanny was terribly underappreciated during their initial existence and long since. It was an unfortunate situation, directly related to sexism while they were extant, though the subsequent lack of fervent cult following is a bit more complex. The best place to begin absorbing this worthy outfit’s story is at the beginning, as their self-titled debut from 1970 is freshly reissued June 26 on white vinyl by Real Gone Music.

Let’s be clear; Fanny do have a fanbase, one big enough but also niche enough that Rhino Handmade released the 4CD box set First Time In A Long Time: The Reprise Recordings back in 2002 in a limited edition of 5,000 copies. Indeed, Fanny’s history isn’t difficult to get acquainted with, and the same is true of their music as it’s been added to a handful of streaming sites. They even have a well-designed and maintained website, fannyrocks.com.

As Fanny’s background encourages a deep dive into how it all transpired, we’ll attempt a condensed version here and then proceed to engage with the contents of their debut. Sisters June and Jean Millington, California residents who were born in the Philippines, played first in the Svelts and then joined Wild Honey alongside Alice de Buhr. June played guitar, Jean bass, and Alice drums. Producer Richard Perry’s secretary caught them live and after hipping her boss, they were signed sans audition, with pianist Nickey Barclay added thereafter. Fanny was born.

Reprise reportedly entered into this situation expecting a novelty but got a surplus of talent. The band not only played their instruments with considerable skill and élan (unlike the prior norm of girl-group singers getting backed-up by studio and touring pros) but wrote their own high quality material, as well. All four sang, and that they were unusually astute interpreters of others’ compositions was the icing on the cake.

Read More »

Ram, the second post-Beatle LP from Paul McCartney has just been reissued through Hear Music. There are numerous ways for the uninitiated to acquaint oneself with its contents, but the best is likely the two-disc Special Edition. It presents the contents of this hard-fought classic alongside a second album of appropriate bonus material.

Paul McCartney was the member of the Fab Four that so many used to relish knocking around. Whether it was in spirited bar chats or animated discussions at parties, when the tide turned to The Beatles somebody could always be counted on for a hearty jibe at Macca’s expense. And in my above use of “so many” I’m generally referring to males and by “somebody” I’m specifically speaking of those who indisputably considered John Lennon to be the Best Beatle.

While for those truly devoted fans of the band there could simply never be a Worst, for many Paul was the Square Beatle, a designation not borne out by the facts, for he was as interested in the avant-garde as any member. Hell, in ’68 he co-produced “I’m the Urban Spaceman” by The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band for Pete’s sake, an act that places him rather high up on the meter of cool.

However, others derided him as the Corporate Beatle. And yeah, it’s true that Paul never lost track of the business aspect of the whole affair, but his behavior in this regard hasn’t really played out as particularly odious in comparison to other rock star types of not even half his stature or talent.

But both Paul’s image and the assessment of his post-Beatle solo career has rebounded in recent years. Much of this might have to do with the constantly regenerating fanbase of the Four consistently growing older and perhaps letting go of the rebelliousness that inspired easy identification with Lennon or Harrison. It also might be related to the race for Coolest Living Beatle being down to him and Ringo “No More Mail, Thanks” Starr.

Read More »

Will Dorey, a London-based (by way of Swanage, UK) multi-instrumentalist and singer, commenced activities under the name Skinshape in the mid-’00s and has subsequently issued five full-lengths and four singles (one a split) on vinyl. Across those releases, he’s cultivated a generally trip-hoppy approach, infusing it with cinematic and psychedelic elements, and on Umoja, his latest on Lewis Recordings, excursions into World Music and Afrobeat in particular. Across this set, Dorey settles into grooves that’re unperturbed but too hearty to fit the descriptor of laidback, though it’s sure to be a fine listen during the upcoming warmer months. It’s out on vinyl, compact disc, and digital June 19.

The musical neighborhood where Will Dorey resides isn’t exactly underpopulated, but a perusal of his back catalog reveals him to be one of the more consistent practitioners of what we’ll succinctly call post- trip-hop. Less tersely, he blends aspects of old-school funk, soul, and of course, hip-hop (rhythms, not rappers) with touches of rock, often psychedelic in comportment. There are also nods to reggae, folk, jazz and even retro pop.

What I especially dig is how Dorey hasn’t gotten too refined as his discography has grown, and I say that as someone who felt a lot of early trip-hop fell victim to exactly this problem. Instead, Skinshape has maintained an appealing largeness in the rhythmic department as the ambitiousness has spread outward. While 2014’s Skinshape is likeable with the rudiments in place, it still hit the ear like a debut. But on each successive record, Oracolo (2015), Life & Love (’17), and Filoxiny (’18), ingredients were added to the recipe without ever drifting away from the project’s impetus.

This is derived from Dorey’s guitar playing and the singing (oftentimes his voice but just as regularly guest artists as the demands of individual tracks entail) alongside the punch of the rhythm. Another constant (and this relates back to the issue of refinement) is a preference for embodying classic sounds rather than striving for the cutting edge, though there is no mistaking that Skinshape is a contemporary endeavor.

Read More »

Ostinato Records, the New York City-based label dedicated to uncovering “Afrophone sounds from across the Atlantic and Indian Ocean” is back with their first studio-recorded release, sourced from Djibouti, an African nation where music is under complete control of the state. The Dancing Devils of Djibouti, by Groupe RTD is the first international release from the country, with its Bollywood-ish sax-infused funkiness captured in the compact recording timeframe of three days as allowed by government officials. However, the album never sounds rushed but is instead full-bodied and intense. It’s out digitally now and on 2LP with gatefold and in a hardback CD bookcase on June 19.

Groupe RTD, the creators of this set’s ten songs, aren’t just any band. They are described in the promo lit for this album as their country’s ceremonial outfit by day, performing as part of national events and welcoming foreign dignitaries, and as a vibrant groove machine by night. They consist of saxophonist Mohamed Abdi Alto, vocalists Asma Omar, Guessod Abdo Hamargod and Hassan Omar Houssein, drummer Omar Farah Houssein, keyboardist Moussa Aden Ainan, guitarist Abdirazak Hagi Sufi (aka “Kaajaa”), bassist Abdo Houssein Handeh, and Dumbek drummer Salem Mohamed Ahmed.

In 2016, Ostinato Records, founded and headed by Vik Sohonie, met with those in charge of the national broadcast organization Radiodiffusion-Télévision Djibouti (RTD) about raising the curtain of secrecy on the music of the young country (which only realized independence from French colonial rule in 1977). It took three years for the label to gain access to the vaults, which are described as holding thousands of reels of Somali and Afar music.

But that’s not what’s heard on The Dancing Devils of Djibouti, as Groupe RTD is an active outfit combining young talent and older masters. Since those archival reels have been assessed by Ostinato as some of the best preserved in Africa, their focus sensibly shifted to documenting the contemporary music of Groupe RTD before the opportunity passed, and in the process have brought wider exposure to a band that, up to now, has been completely unknown beyond Djibouti borders.

Read More »