When I told my friends at the Boston Hassle that I spent most of 2014 listening to old records pulled out of Cambridge shops like Stereo Jacks, Cheapo and In Your Ear, they told me that my voice would be welcome here sharing some of my favorite finds with you. So get moldy with me. Maybe some of this stuff will be “new” to you.
Louis Prima – The Wildest (1957) – The perfect album for starting my day on the right foot. When the real world isn’t cutting it and the droplets of coffee are painfully eking their way through the filter, I might need to feel like I’m at a party in the 1950s with a bunch of drunk bon vivants clinking crystal to an Italian jump band. Prima and co-vocalist Keely Smith had their call and response act down to a science here, and the fumes make me glad to be a jamoke.
Rotary Connection – Rotary Connection (1967) – I really don’t know what or who the Rotary Connection is, and having the benefit of learning about them about them on the internet kind of bums me out. What I can tell you is that they appear to be a sloppily yet brilliantly conceived art project, featuring a young Minnie Riperton, where psychedelia is approached by cutting and pasting everything that was floating around the AM airwaves at the time into a warped commercial for the Summer of Love that would only be played late at night.
Tommy James & the Shondells – Crimson & Clover (1969) – I really want to think that this band is dumb based on their singles, and they are dumb. Tommy James autobiography is the greatest rock book, by the way, which chronicles his time working for a mafia run record label, Roulette, whose label put out this record in 1969. This five-plus minute version of “Crimson & Clover” really is the best vibey soft-psych jam there is, and “Crystal Blue Persuasion” sounds like what would happen if Gary Lewis & the Playboys dropped acid. The album is full of these songs.
The Spinners – The Spinners (1972) – For any Bacharach fans looking for the place to be in the early ‘70s once Burt’s flights of fancies began to take him elsewhere, it’s definitely important to track down as much of Thom Bell’s songwriting and production work as possible. This Spinners album brought two monster Bell singles, the sweet disco-pop-licious “I’ll Be Around” and “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love,” which make me want to roller skate forever.
Ralph McTell – Not Till Tomorrow (1972) – The details really don’t add up here. Produced by Tony Visconti the same year as T.Rex’s The Slider, Not Till Tomorrow couldn’t be any farther from the glam scene. Nor is it really the straightforward folk that McTell is best known for. Not Till Tomorrow is at times bitterly melancholy (“Sylvia”), ornately baroque (“Nettle Wine”), quirky and hokey (“When I Was A Cowboy”). And that’s just side one. A must for fans of the Band and early 70s Dylan.
Wizzard – Wizzard Brew (1973) – This album is scary like old puppets. The cover really should have been a giveaway. Recorded at the peak of productivity for genius multi-instrumentalist Roy Wood (of the Move, and ELO briefly) who had also released a the brilliantly eclectic solo album Boulders the same year, Wizzard Brew was supposed to showcase his warped glam side. An early foray into noise rock where everything is compressed and blown to shit with ring modulation on every instrument. Golden rule – immediate hate means probably great.
Alex Chilton – Bach’s Bottom (1975) – Recorded frighteningly close to the end of Big Star’s “Third”/“Sister Lovers” sessions, this album showcases the fuckwit side of Chilton’s personality that embodied his solo career. There’s a shitty Beatles cover, a kick ass Elvis-in-Memphis vibe version of Big Star’s “Jesus Christ” (wasn’t really Big Star’s tune at that point, but history has changed that). Also, three versions of a new lazy cock-rock tune he was working on called “Take Me Home And Make Me Like It” that turns back Big Star’s “progress” a good 10 years.
Marvin Gaye – Midnight Love (1982) – Gaye left many great, affordable records behind for discovery that most would never even pick up for some reason. Midnight Love, his last complete statement he recorded before his death, is one of he most unique hybrid acoustic/electronic album’s I’ve ever heard, with synths, drum machines and more traditional r&b/funk instrumentation pushing and pulling against one another with a bubbling effervescence that reflects the album’s slinky libido. “Sexual Healing” was the hit.
Vladimir Vysotsky – Thus Spoke Vysotsky (1984) – It turns out this guy is the Russian Dylan, whose records were traded like contraband under the late Soviet rule. This album was pressed by a New York Bookstore in the early 80s and is an extremely rare collection of Vysotsky’s earliest ‘60s recordings. It sounds like passionate folk from another planet. Great black and white op-art cover too.
Janet Jackson – Control (1986) – Do not pay a lot of money for this, but Control is the pinnacle example of Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis production that bridged late ‘70s/early ‘80s party funk and new jack soul. As a big fan of songs that go back and forth between two chords over and over and over again, I’m a huge fan of “When I Think of You.” Huge crush smiles. Also the charmingly squaresville “Let’s Wait A While,” which reminds me lyrically of the Jackson 5’s “The Love You Save.”
