Fusion 45

Greetings Friends of Fusion 45:

Please take a minute to visit my other joint, Sal’s Boutique.

New on the rack this week: Prelude by Eumir Deodato

Read my review of Subject To Change over at Sal’s Boutique.

Greetings friends of Fusion 45:

When I launched Fusion 45 a couple of years ago, it never occurred to me that I would want to write record reviews again. (It had been a great number of years since I’d slammed Mike And The Mechanics.)

Then the folks over at Blues Revue asked me to do a couple and, well, I guess they’ve created a monster.

So, I’ve decided to relaunch Sal’s Boutique (Notes From A Thrift Store Record Bin) as a separate website. Have a click and jump on over to see what’s stashed behind the broken electronics and stained baby clothes.

You’ll see reviews I wrote on:

Guy Clark

Andrew Gold

Leo Kottke

Danny O’Keefe

Carole King.

In the next few weeks, I’ll be adding an albums by Hillman-Souther-Furay and Delbert McClinton (with Glen Clark) plus Eumir Deodato and one from Bola Sete and Vince Guaraldi

Loose As A Goose With The Horn Playin’ Juice

My ex-brother-in-law Steve was a  pretty fair horn player back in the late 60’s and early 70’s. That paid me some benefits in my musical education: I impressed my 7th grade music teacher quite readily with the knowledge of Bill Chase and Blood, Sweat And Tears I’d acquired through him.

Surprisingly, Sons of Champlin escaped Steve so it wasn’t until Bill Champlin scored a marginally successful single in the 1980’s that I heard him, though my good friend and fellow youthful DJ Phil LoCascio was all over that noise. (LoCascio is, by the way, the real original Dr. Phil, named as such long before that quack started beating up on people with Oprah. He’s still a radio guy, interviewing the stars at a station in Jersey.)

At any rate, I don’t usually drop more than 50 cents or a buck on a used album but, in this case, I dropped a whole $2 on Sons of Champlin’s Loosen Up Naturally.

Sons of Champlin - The Thing To Do

Sons of Champlin - Misery Isn’t Free

Sons of Champlin - Rooftop

Sinking Ships and Sandy Shoes

Actually went 48 hours this week without looking at a computer, hanging at the beach with the family (in a nice little chalet loaned to us by most generous friends).

Dark clouds and wind-driven rain most of the time (until this afternoon). But that didn’t stand in the way of our fun (as you see from the picture).

Should probably be posting something from Laura Marling (for alas, she cannot swim). But the best I can do is this classic slab of salt water taffy:

The Bee Gees - Sinking Ships

Watch Me Pull A Rabbit Out of My Hat, A Jukebox Out of My Trunk & A Hit Single Out of My….

In 1968, Larry Norman and his band, People, scored a fluke Top 20 hit with a cover of a Zombies B-side called I Love You.

Not long after that, my college-aged brother came rolling into the driveway with a jukebox in the trunk of his car. I’m not entirely sure where he got it (or why) but I Love You was among the songs that came the machine.

I wasn’t allowed to “mess around” with it so I was constantly dragging my brother out to the garage, asking him to plug it and playing the songs over and over. That may well be the reason why my Dad got rid of it when my brother went back to school.

Norman, quoted on All Music Guide as an equally devote follower of both Jesus Christ and Elvis Presley, never saw fit to try and duplicate his success. Instead, he went on to become the “godfather of Jesus Rock”.

On the flip side of I Love You is this cut, which is no longer available except on the single.

People - Somebody Tell Me My Name

Throw Her Off By Actually Asking Permission

“I have a confession,” I said to my wife as she sat at the kitchen table, writing out the kid’s morning chore list. “I’m a sick man”.

She looked up from her yellow pad and scratched the top of her head with the pencil, giving me her is-this-going-to-be-a-confession-about-an-old-girlfriend look. I took that as a cue to go on.

“I was looking at the classifieds,” I said, “and saw there’s a garage sale going on about 10 miles from here. It starts in about 15 minutes, ” I continued, “and, um, they have records”.

The look on her face went from old-girlfriend to new-kitchen (with-the-money-he-spends-on-music). I figured I’d better keep things moving.

“C’mon,” I said, “it’s fun for me. My cavemen ancestors hunted wild board. I look for a mint-condition copy of the first Talking Heads album.”

“Well,” she said, closing with her I-can’t-win-this-one look, “boy have to have their fun.”

“So I can go?” (It’s not my typical M.O.; usually I just leave and answer questions later).

“Of course, you can. You’re a grown man; you can do whatever you want to do”.

Having accomplished my goal I decided to save my own favorite facial expressions (the who-are-you-trying-to-fool look) and thought better to simply wheel and head fro the door.

“But take your son with you,” she said, “I want him to witness first hand why they’re going to put you away.”

Me and You, Boo

“This is one of my favorite things to do,” my shaggy-headed boy said, as we got into the car.

The night before, when we were walking the dog, he said I was his favorite person in the whole world. He’s 10, about 5′2″, with enough curly blond hair for three kids and a winning smile. He’s firmly planted in a world where he still loves Legos but is aware of girls (and is thoroughly confused as to why anyone would want to be sexually active). He plays baseball like a teenager and still sleeps with stuffed animals.

But today, he justs wants to hang with Daddy at garage sales.

Stop #1: I Kinda Wish I’d Haggled for That Baseball Glove

Our first destination proved worthless. There were two boxes of 78’s but I’ve no interest in that action. The 33’s were all bad Christian music. (Note: For those who are wondering, by that I mean bad music made by Christians, not music made by bad Christians).

There were a couple of leather baseball gloves for which they wanted $15 apiece; I probably could’ve gotten the pair for that but I wasn’t in the mood to haggle (and now that my cheap lost-and-found Louisville Slugger pleather softball glove is torn, I regret it. Oh, to find the 1985 Rawlings Dale Murphy that was stolen last fall).

Stop #2: The Long And Winding Road

After spending a few minutes looking at 5 cent juice glasses and a $50 commode (like I’d spend 5 cents on a used toilet), we decided we’d take the back way home and see what we could find. Stop #2, down a long winding road off the highway, we hit paydirt: Bill Withers Just As I Am; Otis Redding The Dock of The Bay; Johnny Nash I Can See Clearly Now and Kenny Rogers & The First Edition Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town.

Stop #3: The Yard Sale Motherlode

Once a year the mobile home park people get to have a rummage sale. No music but a 25 cent watering wand for the Buddha Garden and a 50 cent copy of A League of Their Own (and an interesting conversation with the boy about the relative merits of living in a mobile home. He determined there are very few).

Stop #4: Homeward Bound

A $3 copy of a 6-year old Indiana Jones video game he’s played once. Used his own money, though, and was quite proud of his purchase. Total spent between us: $5.75. But, as they say, it was priceless.

Some select cuts from our haul plus a few I mentioned in my Vinyl Record Day post.

Isley Brothers - Vacuum Cleaner
I had to laugh when I saw this title.

The Impressions - This Is My Country
Biting sarcasm from Curtis Mayfield and Company from the album cover down to the last song.

Otis Redding - I’m Coming Home
A great one from a great great set.

Johnny Nash - Ooh Baby You’ve Been Good To Me
Probably did more to bring reggae to the masses than Bob Marley himself.

Kenny Rogers And The First Edition - Once Again She’s All Alone
Most interesting thing about this album is that the drummer is credited as being Mickey Hart. That one sent me scrambling to the wikipedia. Turns out his name was Mickey Jones. Someone smokin’ a little too much of the wacky tabacky over there at Reprise. Good thing Sinatra didn’t hear about that.

Dwight Yoakam - 1000 Miles
I like Dwight.

The Salesman’s Theme Song

I have a couple of minutes between sales calls to lay this bad boy on you. This is one many salespeople are singing along to these days.

J.J. Jackson - Ain’t Too Proud To beg

The man who is forever identified with Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid via Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head could rock out a little, too.

This out of print tune, which sounds remarkably like Everybody Needs Somebody To Love was written by Mark Charron who sold a few more tunes to Thomas as well as Chuck Jackson, the Partridge Family and Ronnie Milsap.

B.J. Thomas And The Triumphs - Candy Baby

The Original Fusion 45 (Gotta Get Me A TV Special)

I launched Fusion 45 almost two years ago because I wanted to spend more time with my record collection (and less time with my kids!) in the studio I’d spent a lot of time and money building. (OK, the part about my kids is not exactly true; but when the going gets tough, it’s certainly an attractive refuge. My wife, the nurturer, understands.)

What I’ve gotten is more time with my computer. Damn, another plan foiled.

The very first Fusion 45 post was a mix of songs that happened this way: I took 12 records off the shelf, numbered them 2 through 12. I rolled a pair of dice to determine the record (2 through 12) and then the cut (2 through 12) that I would play. Unfortunately, Cut #1 never got played (poor, sad Cut #1).

Today, Mr. Peabody is setting the Wayback Machine for December 2006 for the first Fusion 45 mix in a mighty long time. A couple of changes: no dice, baby, just a random stack of records sitting on the studio floor and the tunes are set up individually (not in one big ole MP3).

John Stewart - Midnight Wind

Maria Muldaur - Any Old Time

Stephen Stills- Song Of Love/Rock And Roll Crazies/Cuban Bluegrass

Laura Nyro - Blackpatch

Linda Ronstadt - Up To My Neck In Muddy Water

Allan Sherman - Shake Hands With Your Uncle Max

Three Dog Night - Southbound

Marty Robbins - Foggy Foggy Dew

Steve Miller Band - Going To The Country

Robert Gordon And The Wildcats (with Link Wray) - Red Hot

The Easybeats - Made My Bed, Gonna Lie In It

Photo Source: Freshome

The Smell of Fresh Vinyl In The Morning

Here on the west coast of Americana, we have a chain of stores called Fred Meyer. They’re something akin to Target but with an even broader range of stuff (groceries, jewelry, power tools).

Apparently a Freddie’s buyer made a mistake recently, buying the latest REM album on vinyl rather than CD. Some adventurous store managers decided to rack it just the same and, lo and behold, people bought them! So, now Freddie’s will be selling vinyl in some of their stores.

According to an FM spokesperson “the response from customers has just been that they like it, they feel like it has a better sound”. Independent research by the Fusion 45 team indicates people also find it easier to clean their dope on record jackets.

According to one satisfied customer, “now we buy our dope cleaning utensils and our munchies in the same place. It’s really convenient. Shakin’ out a bag on my iPod never really worked too well.”

This tune, by the guy who did Teen Angel, is now long out of print, so you won’t find it between the hair dryers and the avocados.

Mark Dinning - By Now Baby

Source: Playback

Bobbie Gentry was one of the first women singers in Nashville in the 1960’s to write her own music and lyrics. Though the “countrypolitan” sound was boss around Music Row in those days, Gentry favored a smokier sound, rooted in gospel and blues and infused with a touch of Southern Gothic.

Her most well-known song, Ode To Billie Joe, the story of Billie Joe McAllister, was a perfect example of the blues-based narrative style that made her popular (and the song actually spent a number of weeks on the black music charts).

On the flip-side of Billie Joe is this tune, which she also wrote. Based on the standard 16-bar blues form, with harmonica on the second verse and great saxophone rhythm track, this sounds like it could’ve just as well been in the Chamber Brothers repertoire.

Sister Bobbie could get it on.

Bobbie Gentry - Mississippi Delta

Truth be told, the little blue-haired lady I mentioned a few days ago in my post about Strawbs had one up on me. She may not have known about Strawbs — who, according to White Ray at Echoes In The Wind, were said to be the British version of the Band – but she knew John Hartford and I really didn’t. Oh, the shame.

The short story on Hartford is that he came from a fairly wealthy, intellectual background, was obsessed with the banjo, the fiddle and the Mississippi River and spent most of his life pursuing his knowledge of all three. He wrote one of the most famous pop songs of the 1960’s, Gentle On My Mind, a song he said “bought his freedom”.

The little old lady might have known Hartford from his appearances on the Glen Campbell and Smothers Brothers TV shows. Or, she might’ve known him from actually listening to the 1969 John Hartford album she sold me for 25 cents. Given the content of the record — bizarre and certainly left of center — the mind reels at the kind of conversation blue-hair and I could’ve had had I known what I was getting into.

John Hartford - The Poor Old Prurient Interest Blues

“I have no idea who they are,” shrugged the blue-haired little old lady as I rummaged through the box of records she’d set out at the mobile home rec room rummage sale. Mantovani, Andre Kostelanetz, Percy Faith and…Strawbs? She professed to know of John Hartford, whose first album she also owned. Having listened to it, I find that somewhat more bizarre than her possession of a Strawbs record.

I know Strawbs by chance. I inherited a handful of their records from a radio station that changed format. It’s the ultimate moment of confusion for a music junkie: “I’m sorry but we’re changing the station’s format to all Pat Robertson All The Time. As a parting gift, here’s your severance and several boxes of records”.

I can safely say that, up until that time, my upstate New York upbringing had not allowed me to cross paths with Strawbs. I can say that no tonearm has ever crossed those Strawbs records I got for free, either. But I kept them because they had a cool, Britishy air about them (kind of like the Steeleye Span record I’ve had since 1979 but don’t think I’ve listened to.

Fast forward many years and here I am: kindly Mrs. Grandma Record Collection and the Best of Strawbs for 25 cents. How could I miss?

To quote the first few paragraphs of the liner notes:

It’s something of a tribute to the slightly bizarre nature of that catchall pigeonhole known as “British Rock” that a group which originated as England’s answer to Flatt and Scruggs would go on to cite The Tibetan Book of The Dead as one of its prime influences, gives the world one of its best-respected female vocalists and classically-oriented keyboard wizards, spawn the career of a hit-song writing duo and end up classified closer to the spatially-stately progressive wing of rock than to anything remotely resembling it “world’s fastest bajo”/bluegrass beginnings.

And that’s just one sentence!

The female vocalist was Sandy Denny; the keyboard wizard was none other than Rick Wakeman of Yes and the songwriting duo was drummer Richard Hudson and bassist John Ford (who wrote Strawbs UK #1, Part of the Union).

What pulls this all together is a listen to Lay Down, their UK Top 10 in 1972. One part Jethro Tull, one part Cat Stevens, one part Emerson, Lake and Palmer, it draws together in just a few minutes the whole of the British folk and prog rock era. And little old blue-haired ladies like it too!

Strawbs - Lay Down

From their near legendary If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears — the one that showed the ultra-sexy, bathtub bound Michelle Phillips draped across her band mates — this tune is a pretty refreshing bit of pop music yumminess. Thanks to every adult contemporary station from here to Tupelo and back, we’ve heard Monday, Monday and California Dreamin’ a hundred too many times. This one, the flipside to the later, has that swirling, “we’re gonna be on Laugh-In” groove that I’m surprised hasn’t been covered by at least one band since 1964. I think this is the song Ben and Jerry were listening to when they invented Wavy Gravy.

The Mama’s And The Papa’s - Somebody Groovy

According to All Music Guide, this original version of Silence Is Golden from the 4 Seasons album Born To Wander was a hit, saying “these [pop-rock tunes] actually are the best songs on the record: the hit “Silence Is Golden,” for instance, and “No Surfin’ Today,” which owes more to the Beach Boys’ ballads than it does to the Weavers”.

But, according the place where the hits go to live (and die) — Billboard magazine — it wasn’t a hit until the Tremeloes did a better version in 1967. Either way, this is another little slice of pop rock cheesecake from those famous songwriting Bobs (Gaudio and Crewe) who made barrel loads with the Seasons and so many others.

This version, which is on the flip side of the Philips release of Rag Doll (PHW-32690) must be a reissue, since Rag Doll and Silence Is Golden appeared on different albums. Another curiosity: it’s credited to “the 4 Seasons featuring The “Sound” Of Frankie Valli,” likely because Valli was also pursuing a solo career at the time.

The 4 Seasons - Silence Is Golden

The Family Jewels

Jewel Akens (who should not be confused with Jewel The Babe Folkie) was a 1960’s R&B singer. His early career included recording with jazz reed player Eddie Daniels (as Jewel And Eddie) as well as singing back-up for various and sundry R&B hits. His early recordings also included guitar-playing by Eddie Cochran.

To elucidate further:

In 1965, Akens recorded his only Top 40 hit, The Birds And The Bees. Though it’s credited to “Barry Stuart,” the song was actually based on a nursery rhyme created by the son of ERA Records boss, Herb Newman.

In keeping with Akens’ nursery rhyme vibe, this flip-side to The Birds and The Bees combines simple lyrics with a nice Funky Nassau groove. Though considered a one-hit wonder, Akens is still around, singing and producing. He wants Jewel’s record company to know he’s available for duets.

Jewel Akens - Tic Tac Toe

Get a crystal clean digital version at Amazon

Some great music happening this weekend around our united states of merry-ka. While my mates from WNEW head to Mitch-igan for the Rothbury Festival to catch everyone and his brother, I’m staying on the beautiful west coast to catch everyone and his sister at the Waterfront Blues Festival.

Tops on my list: Isaac Hayes, Eric Linden, Elvin Bishop, Ruthie Foster, Charlie Musselwhite, Back Door Slam and Rory Block. I’ll be posting for both WNEW and Fusion 45, so keep your ears open for some grooves from the waterfront.

In the meantime, here’s a dirty little blues number from the band that was formed while hanging with Mama Cass watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. They also, supposedly, inspired the Grateful Dead to go electric.

From the flip-side of Do you Believe in Magic on Kama Sutra KA-201:

The Lovin’ Spoonful - On The Road Again

I’m relieved to learn that Jud Strunk was not a stage name conjured up by some record company doofuss in a windowless office somewhere in the bowels of Nashville.

Jud (nee Justin) Strunk was his real name and he was actually quite famous in his time. He wrote a number of humorous country hits, toured with Andy Griffith, appeared on the Tonight Show and is still revered by Demento-ites for his novelty song, The Biggest Parakeets In Town.

This little nugget didn’t fall to far from Daisy A Day, the sentimental dose of saccharin for which this was the B-side.

Straight from the Bobby Goldsboro Watching Scotty Grow Songbook, this is the sort of light instrumental pop that claimed the hearts of plenty of prepubescent girls just a few years before they jumped into their Jordache and starting growing parakeets of their own.

Jud Strunk - The Searchers