45’s and 7’s

Floaty psychedelic guitar explorations taking the listener to far away lands. “You Only Think That You Think You Think” “Simple Pleasures”

This 45 reminds me of that scene in Blue Velvet where Frank Booth is wielding a love letter that will send you straight to hell. Dare to hear! It’s Time You Spent The Night

Pressed in Belgium for export to Kenya. This Afro Mod / Jazz / R&B mongrel features bi-lingual vocals from Tanzanian Sal Davis. The sound is gritty, near on filthy and tough to resist. This 45 has been recently re-issued by counterpoint on a limited run. (Thanks ‘A’ for bringing this one home.) “Makini” [audio:sal_davis_makini.mp3]

This Ohio band existed in various incarnations throughout the late 60s/early 70s, and released a handful of singles.  The a-side here is a Beatles cover, quite reminiscent of Vanilla Fudge’s ominous version of “Eleanor Rigby”.  The b-side is a more uptempo original.  More info about the group can be found at: http://www.buckeyebeat.com/velvetcrest.html “Things We Said […]

Nichelle Nichols is best known for her role as Lieutenant Uhura in the original Star Trek TV series from the late 1960’s.  She followed her Trek co-stars William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy into the recording business in 1968 with an LP titled “Down To Earth” for Epic Records, which was re-issued on CD by Rev-Ola […]

Privately pressed 45 from Belgium, a bit of an “Electric Warrior” influence on the b-side.  I don’t know any details but maybe someone out there does? “Teach Me How” [audio:sighbluesky1.mp3] “Lonely Man” [audio:sighbluesky2.mp3]

After finding two Rizzo acetates in some random box at WFMU, a certain psych mafioso told me he believed Rizzo had access to a lathe and was cutting custom oddities throughout the 70s. Whatever the case, Rizzo captures the perfect basemental weirdness permeating the American underground (think Vyto B, Higney, Stone Harbour, Heitkotter et al.) […]

Jerry Rooth’s Higney-produced single is further evidence that Higney’s sonic philosophy was no accident. All the classic shimmers present are: muted drums, rough, desperate vocals, and the wonderfully inexplicable audio-temporal mixing that made Attic Demonstration such a classic. “But You’ll Try…Again” strays from Higney’s downer-rock and dives into a strange brew of hard-rock, power-pop, and […]

One of the benefits of accumulating records is finding a great record in one’s own collection without having any idea how it got there. This is an example. I have had this record for at least 15 years and never got around to listening to it until this week. I will buy any record from […]

Kebab existed within a weird junction between Europe’s waning post-punk explosion and the new wave of electronic synthesia. With a vocal sound obviously close to The Slits, the Belgian quartet remain more youthful, subtle, and haematic, fusing drum-machine maximalia with actue guitar riffery to create their strange sinusoidal centre. Remarkably, they listed Crass as a […]

The Huntington Beach, California-based Outstanding Records label may be better known to Waxidermists for releasing the “It’s Broken” LP by Bob Chance, but they’ve been responsible for numerous other interesting releases since 1968, including this little gem of a single.  Both sides feature a keyboard-dominated soft folk pop sound, with a bit of a jazzy […]

I really like this single and a lot of the usual punk discography type sites don’t speak too highly of it. In the Henry Weld discography of Texas punk, the reviewers wrote a sort of one thumb up one thumb down: “Mystery record, quite good.[DR]” Another source says “mediocre would be the kindest description”. No […]

Here’s one of my all time favorite 45’s from my collection, and probably the only cracked record I keep in the collection. It’s a Surinam single, pressed in Holland in 1978. The band name Fri Sranang is a combination of the Surinam creole language Sranang Tongo and Fri, which, I’m guessing, must mean free. Fri […]

I just thought this is a charming 45 and as of yet it doesn’t yield results on the Google. Pressed in italy and arranged by one Gioriano Baldassari.  It appears to be an Italian backing group with an English singer. Probably some lounge act, as this private record is signed by the whole bunch. Gone […]

While I have no idea WHAT a Spray Pal is supposed to be, thanks to the liner notes on this single we at least know WHO they are (or were, as it were).  Kristin Gushurst on keyboards and Susanne Lewis on guitar & vocals were Spray Pals, and this single hailed from Denver, Colorado circa […]

One of You is my friend’s mom. She left Czechoslovakia during the crackdown in 1968. Everyone in Prague was always talking about how great and amazing the rest of the world was and how the communists were lying when they said the West was bad. When she came to Toronto she remembers being “crushed, totally […]

Waxidermy likes to rock, there’s no denying it. Aerosmith, AC/DC, maybe even a little Queen – it’s still Rock ‘N’ Roll to them! So let’s keep on rockin’ in the US of A! From the Frisco Bay to Nags Head, VA, all the way down to Lake Charles, LA with David Crawford & Phase II!! […]

Dan Satch has quite the mysterious background, not much is known about this particular gentleman or his band. Originally from Nigeria and presumably from Aba, according to the back cover of Ikoro’s 70’s Special, “Dan Satch Joseph was a seasoned trumpeter and arranger. He started playing the trumpet in 1959 and was the trumpeter leader […]

Sole release from this L.A.-based band circa 1977.  I’m guessing UCLA students from the contact address on the back cover, and sounding a bit like a crunchier Devo, without the synths.  Not quite punk rock, though I first remember seeing the sleeve pictured in a 1978 L.A. Times article about local punk singles.  Doctors Wives […]

R.F.D. (Rural Free Delivery) was developed in the 1890s so rural dwellers wouldn’t need to trek to the nearest post office to pick up their mail. “2002 R.F.D.” is naturally a rural rendition of the ever-reliable “Theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey,” aka “Also Sprach Zarathustra” by Richard Strauss.  A disappointing recording of this tune […]

This perky little 7″ was one of my choice finds from a guy selling records out of his garage in Cottonwood, Arizona last year.  Interesting artist name, pink Hawaiian label, great titles — sounds promising, put it in the pile, it’s worth a try.  Didn’t take long after setting the needle down to realize that […]

This hypnotic instrumental is hidden on the b-side of a children’s Christmas novelty, “Harvey The Hippo,” released in 1959.  I wonder if there are any other recordings of this song. “Snow Mist” was written by George David Weiss, who wrote a number of standards, i.e. “What A Wonderful World.” [audio:LJ_silver_orch_snow_mist.mp3]

Here’s a cool 45 that is a product of the headache inducing labyrinth of entangled record labels out of Greenville Mississippi in the mid-late 1960s. The fact that this is such a direct bite of Darrell Banks’ massive “Open The Door To Your Heart” seems audacious & probably is. Vikki Styles released just two (possibly […]

NEVER FORGET

If I was more organized, I would’ve had this up months ago, you know, when he died. I can only hope it breathes new life into Michael’s storied legacy which doesn’t seem to be losing much relevance thanks to an uninterrupted media blitz. I do find it interesting that, had I posted this back when […]