Boss Radio 66, formerly known as Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban

Friday, October 14, 2011

Jungle 45 of the Week!

The_Natives_are_Restless_Tonight

(I had no way to rip vinyl for a while that's why this series disappeared. There may be a few more 45's before I can fill a complete CD. Then the whole series will be posted here along with a swanky J.R. Williams cover)

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Happy Birthday, Melba Montgomery (MP3s)

Big Big Heartaches

South Of Lonesome

Big Tears Are Coming

From the Ichiban satellite office down here in Georgia, I'd like to wish Melba Montgomery a very happy 73rd birthday. Melba, who was born on October 14, 1938 in Iron City, Tennessee, came from a very musical family.

Her brothers Earl and Carl, like Melba, were also talented songwriters. Carl, in fact, co-wrote two great trucker anthems, Six Days On The Road and Give Me Forty Acres, while Earl (also known as Peanutt) cut his teeth as a studio guitar player in the Muscle Shoals area (that's him playing on Arthur Alexander's You Better Move On) and went on to write over three dozen songs recorded by George Jones.

After spending a few years as the "girl singer" in Roy Acuff's band, Melba began releasing records under her own name in 1963, around the same time she began recording a string of duets with George Jones. Her solo material from this time period is comprised on numerous superb honky-tonkers like the three tracks above and, as Joe Sixpack points out, it remains a scandal and a shame that no one has put together a good compilation of her early years.

The Monster!

Ahhhh... Gotta love that frightening model car destroyer The Giant Gila Monster from 1959!
I know I do.
Pure shlocky fun!

Below you can see what happens when ol' Gila shows up at the teen dance hungry for Rock & Roll Action, but gets subjected to saccharine chump Don Sullivan's warbling instead.

Surely the shindig would have been much more... umm... SMASHING... if Evans Carroll & The Tempos had been booked as the musical entertainment.
Sho'nuff.

Evans Carroll & The Tempos - The Monster

More Songs We Taught Porter Wagoner

During our "Country Music Week" festivities the other week, there was some discussion of the relative merits of "The First Mrs. Jones" as performed by Porter Wagoner versus Bill Anderson's own version (SPOILER ALERT: they're both awesome!). This week, I'd like to initiate a similar discussion about another song from The Cold Hard Facts of Life, arguably Porter's greatest (I'd certainly argue for it!).

Here's Porter's familiar version:

And here's a version by its composer, Mr.Willie Hugh Nelson.

As much as I love Porter's version, I've got to lean toward Willie's rendition: cooler and detached, yet with the quiet menace lurking right under the surface. This is a record that my wife doesn't care for, particularly if I'm singing along (she's also not fond of Jack Kittel's version of "Psycho", for some reason). Women! Who can figure 'em?

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Teen-Age Werewolf!

Robbie_The_Werewolf_-_Rockin_Werewolf

October Surprise: The High Priest of LSD vs. the Pineapple Princess

Fall is here and the time is right for reflection. The tenth month presents us with the occasion to assess the respective impact of two particular personages whose work has contributed mightily to popular culture. Born the same day, October 22nd, twenty-two years apart, Timothy Leary (1920) often gets the nod over Annette Funicello (1942). After all, the principal tribute accorded the Disney donna was an under-two-minute L.A. radio hit, Red Kross’ “Annette’s Got the Hits,” whereas the paddy medicine-man earned a 6:36 salute from the Moody Blues in the FM staple “Legend of a Mind” (“He'll fly his astral plane, Take you on trips around the bay/ Brings you back the same day, Timothy Leary”).

A look at the records, however, reveals a much more complex case, one that tilts toward the gal who taught the world to do “The Clyde” [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YDC8n0xuQI]. Leary’s big coming-out was 1967’s Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out LP, which is no Surrealistic Pillow or even David Hemmings Happens. Against a background of electronic skronks, blips and sitar blues, acid’s high priest freaks freely and encourages co-tripper Ralph Metzner to “relive all those scenes” in an “electric chain of remembrance.” In “All the Girls Are Yours,” Timbo’s gal-pal Rosemary Woodruff challenges Ralphy-boy to put forth his pud: “Can your offer your stamen trembling in the meadow for the electric penetration of pollen?” [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiDII6ZFIP4].

As you might expect, Annette’s more chaste, limiting her birds-and-beeswax to “chalk on the sidewalk, ’nitials on a tree” in 1959’s “Tall Paul” [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne2yFQPYYmU]. But she out-rocks Leary and along the way invents Carole King (whose copycat “Short Mort” single on RCA followed later in ’59; King’s classic may well have inspired pint-sized popsters like Jerry Landis). Funicello’s “First Name Initial” is even better,” and, while it’s a toss-up when it comes to their respective forays into spiritualism—Annette’s “O Dio Mio” vs. Tim’s “You Can Be Anyone This Time Around”—in the creative-collaboration department the Cali kid easily bests the Cambridge quack. He pairs with Simon Stokes (of the Black Whip Thrill Band) for the extended dope-joke “Mushroom Adventure” [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5XatGAwdi4], but she pals with Paul Anka, to do his Joe Turner-modeled “Train of Love” [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3oSgh4Zz0Q ], a Top-40 entry in 1960. Around then, T.L. was dosing convicts as part of Harvard’s ‘Psilocybin Project.’ No contest.
--Gene Sculatti

A Change Of Tense

While Johnny Cash claims to walk the line, Don Costa does not make that claim for himself at present, but aspires to that course of action at some unspecified future time. Regrettably, Mr. Costa failed to provide any vocals that might clarify the issue.

Don Costa - "I'll Walk The Line"