THE SIR DOUGLAS BAND - "Texas Tornado" (1973)

 

There's not hardly anything ever done by Doug Sahm that I don't like. The guy was just pure genius, and this 1973 LP titled "Texas Tornado that was released under the name of The Sir Douglas Band is no exception. Today is Cinco de Mayo, and I can't think of a better song to celebrate the holiday than this one! 

                                      Ay, Ay, Ay!!!                                       

THE SIR DOUGLAS BAND - "Chicano"

HERMETO PASCOAL - "Slaves Mass" (1977)

 

I had a good weekend, so let's wrap it up with some more Brazilian music, and this time it's by one of the masters, Hermeto Pascoal.

Hermeto mainly plays the keyboards, but is also proficient on Flute, Acoustic Guitar, Soprano Saxophone, Recorder, and Clavinet, and he's joined on this 1977 LP by Airto, and Flora Purim, with Ron Carter, and/or Alphonso Johnson on Bass, David Amaro playing guitars, Chester Thompson on the Drums, and Raul De Souza on Trombone. In other words, it's an all-star ensemble, and it's pretty obvious when you listen to it!

HERMETO PASCOAL - "That Waltz (Aquela Valsa)"

 

 

BO DIDDLEY - "The 20th Anniversary Of Rock'N'Roll" (1976)

 

"The 20th Anniversary of Rock'N'Roll" by Bo Diddley in 1976 has some good music on it, but there's one song I really like not only for it's spirit, but also for the way it just chugs along!

Enjoy!!

BO DIDDLEY - "Kill My Body"

THE SEEDS - "No Escape" (1966)

 

"Pushin' Too Hard" by The Seeds in 1966 is still a song that a lot of people know. It did get to number 36 on The Billboard Charts of 1967, so how come none of the other music on this LP or their later albums ever got much or any airplay?

Here's a song with the same pounding sound as "Pushin' Too Hard," and yet there's no escaping the fact that it's done and gone.............until now! 

THE SEEDS - "No Escape"

NILS LOFGREN - "Keith Don't Go (Ode To The Glimmer Twin)" (1975)

 

 I've always liked one particular song off of Nils Lofgren's self-titled album from 1975 because I don't really know of any other songs to compare it to. It's just an interesting song with an interesting message from Nils to Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones urging him not to die from his life of excess. I read that Nils said they he and Keith have met a number of times but have never discussed this song, and in fact, he's not even sure if he has even ever heard it.

A talented guy, Nils is playing everything except the drums, bass, and backing vocals.

NILS LOFGREN - "Keith Don't Go (Ode To The Glimmer Twin)"

MINK DEVILLE - "Cabretta" (1977)

 

This 1977 album by the band Mink Deville is just solid from start to finish. It's produced by the legendary Jack Nitzsche and not only rocks but lead singer Willy Deville can also evoke the likes of The Drifters or Ben E. King.

Not really a punk band, but they played many, many nights at CBGB over a three year period for fifty bucks a night to appreciative audiences.

This was their first album titled "Cabretta" and it only got as far as 186 on the charts, and records after this didn't fare much better.

How is it possible, well to quote Willy Deville himself from a Wikipedia page,

"I had band problems, manager problems, record company problems. And yeah, I had drug problems." 

I think that pretty much explains it, but one thing I know for sure, they could rock as evidenced by this song!

MINK DEVILLE - "One Way Street"

"WHAT TO DO AFTER LOUIE LOUIE?'"

 

Hi again. Rich Arithmetic here at the invitation of yer blog-master “Eeagah!!” And I want to talk about how “Louie Louie” influenced the birth of another classic garage rock song. 

 

Stop me if you've already heard this: 

Back in the early Sixties, the Pacific Northwest was rife with a gritty type of garage rock that would evolve over time to be called "punk" and, later, "grunge." One of the earliest practitioners of this Pacific NW rock style was Robin Roberts and his band, The Wailers, whose teenage audiences were going crazy over The Wailers' rendition of a mid-'50s song they'd discovered by L.A. artist Richard Berry -- "Louie Louie," a Calypso-influenced song about a sailor longing for his baby. But in the hands of Roberts and The Wailers, the song became a barn-burning raver that was so avidly embraced by teenage dance crowds that any Northwest band worth its salt was also required to perform "Louie Louie."

 

So popular was "Louie Louie" that in the VERY SAME WEEK of 1963, two Pacific NW bands recorded the song at the same studio. Although Paul Revere & The Raiders was the more accomplished and more popular of the two regional bands, it was the version of "Louie Louie" by The Kingsmen from Portland, Oregon, that became a national smash-hit. The genius of The Kingsmen lay in their variation of the rhythm of the song's chord changes -- the 1-2-3 (ba ba ba) ba-ba rhythm that we all know, whereas all the other bands were playing a more plodding 1-2-3-4 (ba ba ba ba) ba-ba rhythm. Are you following?

 

The rhythm of the chords was so catchy all by itself that "Louie Louie" shot up the charts, and ever since 1963 numerous records have hit the charts, using that same ba ba ba, ba-ba rhythm, including massive hits like "More Than A Feeling by Boston and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana.

 

And though their rhythmic version of "Louie Louie" wasn't the smash they'd hoped for, Paul Revere & The Raiders were not to be denied. Now that they realized the "secret sauce" of their rival's version of "Louie Louie," The Raiders created their own garage-rock classic using The Kingsmen's 1-2-3 rhythm to drive the compelling punk lust of "Just Like Me" and highlighting the snarling vocal growl of Mark Lindsay. 

PAUL REVERE & THE RAIDERS - "Just Like Me"

 You hear it, right?