The College Crowd Digs Me

(4 For Friday) *  The Yardbirds, a.k.a. Roger the Engineer is given attention at  Shitty Turntable, Wonderful Records . *  It's possible that one of these 20 lifesaving pics could be the very thing you need to know today!  (That's not to say there could not be better ideas out there.) *  Our old friend at  Echoes In The Wind shares another "song" memory.  It's just as simple and wonderful as that. *  This 1978 made-for-television movie... "Cotton Candy" was directed by Ron Howard and starred Charles Martin Smith and Clint Howard .  Some high schoolers form a musical group to compete in a Battle of the Bands.  It's fun, sweet, and cool...in an after-school kind of way.  (First 5-min of "Cotton Candy"  streams a little wanky, but then after, it plays fine.) 'Hot, Blue And Righteous" - ZZ Top / "Tres Hombres" (1973) Good stuff. Casey Chambers Follow Me On FACEBOOK

(a short jaunt) "Ain't Nothing To Me" - Johnny Winter / "Still Alive and Well" (1973) "Take your drink to the end of the bar buddy. Come on, now don't be a fool. I'd rather have the hot seat in Sing-Sing prison. Than to sit down by her on that stool." It would be three years before Johnny Winter was strong enough to record his appropriately titled album  "Still Alive And Well"  after barely surviving the clutches of his wire-walking heroin addiction.  Friends intervention...and a proper rehab stay brought Johnny back to the world.  It's my favorite album.  And this country-honed song might be atypical of what you've come to expect from JW ...but it's as real as the forgotten cigarette burns on bar tables anywhere.  That's Rick Derringer pushing the pedal steel guitar. "Just Crazy Love" - Fleetwood Mac / "Mystery To Me" (1973) "Well you've just got something makes a girl start feeling cra...

"Inside The Shadow" - Anonymous (1976 - Rei 2001) This indie recording "Inside The Shadow" by Anonymous just oozes with confidence.  The Indiana band sound like a blend of equal parts Christie McVie/Bob Welch and very early Buckingham/Nicks.  There are occasional Jefferson Airplane flybys and a nice slice of Byrds-esque aura here and there, too.  The songs are all well thought out with more than just a hint of West Coast smoke hovering above their heads.  From drop to lift... "Inside The Shadow" ...is a pleasing spin.  To think, in 1976 there were only 300 copies pressed is a real head-shaker.  A lotta coulda/shoulda going on. The master tapes have long been lost or damaged, so all of the bootlegs and reissues have been dubbed via vinyl transfer.  Most of the reissues have been pretty bad with either heavy ticks and pops or fluttering or incorrect recording speeds.  Many have had good luck with the 2013 Machu Picchu reissue.  But there hav...

(4 For Friday) *   A few "Recent and Not So Recent" vinyl finds from over at  The Hogs Ear Report . *   A bit of hoo-ha-shenanigan-bewitchery, methinks...courtesy of Paul McCartney with Beck . *   Want to save all your wonderful, funny, memorable Facebook posts that are just too good to be forgotten?  Here is a safe and easy way to download your entire Facebook history . *   Over at  The Rising Storm is some pop-psych from the 1969 self-titled album... "Green." "Buried Alive" - "Ron Wood / "Gimme Some Neck" (1979) Good stuff. Casey Chambers Follow Me On FACEBOOK

"Frost Music" - The Frost (1969 ) "Frost Music"  was the debut album from another one of those little ol' bands outta Michigan that held stage-footing alongside other band peers like MC5 and The Stooges.  And though The Frost didn't blow up like many of their Motor City mates, the band was still a pretty big deal.  "Frost Music" is a hard rock square filled with a few psychedelic fly-bys and occasional floaty atmospheric stuff that bands like Blue Oyster Cult would later build their subterranean castles around.  A solid debut, for sure.  Dick Wagner , who would later go on to play with  Alice Cooper and Lou Reed , delivers solid rock vocals along with his biting guitar that smoothly and smartly changes attitude and atmosphere with ease.  And when Wagner throws down a solo burn, it's killer stuff.  The songs are a mix of hard melodic jams and softer melodic floaters that carry the album along nicely.  "Frost Music" (back) Favorit...

"Whirlybird Day" by Bob Walkenhorst (2020) Softcover,  234 pages NO SPOILERS: Like the adage about blind men bumping into an elephant, so it is with Bob Walkenhorst's wonderful collection of short stories, “Whirlybird Day.”   In the small town of Shorter, MO, the day of the long-awaited community festival proves to be much more than what it appears on the surface.  Nine stories introduce to us a hodgepodge of characters that, on this same day, bring very different experiences.  It's a clever idea.  "Whirlybird Day" is a quick and enjoyable read that captures all the small-town curiosities and quirks.  The exciting moments and the mundane.  These stories are easy to warm up to with plenty of descriptive charm and emotional curves. This town is just one of a thousand small towns you might catch in your rearview mirror before realizing you have driven right through it.  But big cities don't have a monopoly on big dreams or big ideas.  Nor do d...

(4 For Friday) Another short wrecking-ball from the talented Ed Klingenberger  /  Distinct Kicking Motion .  And just perfect for shaking off the mundane. The Ultimate Psychedelic Vinyl gives us a little taste of  The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. Here is an entertaining Vinyl Tag for your album-finding fix courtesy of our good friend Jeff at Burnout Shelter.      Timeless, informative, and sometimes hilarious (all in the best way).  Good stuff! Here's a low-budget afternoon time-killer.  "Flight That Disappeared" (1961)  It's like a lost Twilight Zone episode, but then it steps into a slide zone.  Way better than it ought to be, but still cracker and cheese. "Headlights" - Sean Lennon / "Friendly Fire" (2006) Good stuff. Casey Chambers Follow Me On FACEBOOK

(a short jaunt) "Back On The Road Again" - REO Speedwagon /  "Nine Lives" (1979) One of my top five songs.  Bassist Bruce Halls' vocals are what I want in a rock voice.  And guitarist Gary Richrath is having a ball giving Halls' song everything he's got.  Richrath is on fire.  Finally, this is a great driving tune that gets you down the highway.  This was the band's  eighth studio album and their last really hard rock album before going a little soft in the spine. (OWN) "The Trip" - Donovan /  "Sunshine Superman" (1966) " You know I might-a be there to greet you, child, When your trippin' ship touches sand. What goes on? Chick-a-chick. What goes on? I really wanna know." This was  Donovan's third album.  And a lot of great things are on this record.  Donovan recites in all his folk psych glory the acid drop he had.  But I keep returning to his "What goes on?  Chick a chick.  What goes on?  I real...

"More Psychedellic Guitars" - Jerry Cole (uncredited) (1967) I dig the groovy cover.  That the word "psychedelic" is unintentionally misspelled three times on the front is even better.  This is one of many exploito or cash-in albums that were vying for hard-earned pocket jingle during the psychedelic craze that was starting to hit the market.  Albums of this ilk often contained lame and uninspired guitar instrumentals, and this one, sadly, is no exception.  Not exactly bad instrumentals.  Just ordinary.  But sometimes, if you're lucky, exploito albums can hold real tasty psych goodness.    Uncredited session guitarist Jerry Cole was usually responsible for both.  Jerry recorded a buttload of guitar instrumentals in the studio, much of it never meant to be released.  And cheapo record companies would grab a handful and throw them on an album and call it whatever they wanted.  They didn't care.  They just wanted records th...

(4 For Friday) *  You're gonna wanna see this!   Tony Joe White  killin' it on Letterman over at A Few Good Times In My Life . *   You can't always get what you want ! *  I read this Ray Bradbury novel years ago.  Never caught the film.  IMDB gives Fahrenheit 451 (1966) a solid (7.2) and it's streaming on Youtube .  It has a few memorable scenes and the picture quality really pops.  A good one to check off the list.  (And just like that...it's gone. Four Fifty Bye-Bye.) *   How to spot a card skimmer . "You Never Give Me Your Money / The End" - Tenacious D (2021) Good stuff. Casey Chambers Follow Me On FACEBOOK

"The American Metaphysical Circus" - Joe Byrd And The Field Hippies (1969) I didn't love it, but there's still a lot of good stuff on here.  Enough that I'm glad I picked it up and would recommend it at a fair price.   Joe Byrd had left his band... The United States Of America ...and this was his follow-up to that classic self-titled album.  "The American Metaphysical Circus" is filled with trippy, electronic avant-psych ideas much like the TUSoA album, but maybe a little less focused.  As I said, some really good stuff can be found here, but this album wasn't really meant to cherry-pick.   This is a spin that was meant to ride out to the very end.  It has that kind of feel.  There is an unusual ambiance going on that's hard to nail down.  It's a mix of ethereal songs to go along with a few acid-laced fuzz rockers.  There is a ragtime moment on this as well which I'm not a fan of.  Unlike TUSoA , this album does have some guita...

"The Rutles" - The Rutles (1978) The more you like The Beatles , the more you are going to appreciate all the clever nuances The Rutles bring to your ears.  Their self-titled album is cool, anyway.  But big Beatle fans are going to recognize many subtle and not-so-subtle pokes each song lovingly takes at the fab four. "The Rutles" is a nice gatefold album that comes with a 16-page insert filled with dozens of pictures and liner notes.  And the liner notes are not to be skipped.  They make for some excellent, and often, hilarious reading.  There are also two short interviews with Mick Jagger and Paul Simon and both play it straight.  The front cover of the album shows four "non-existent" albums recorded by The Rutles that also keep in parody with The Beatles albums.  "The Rutles"  (back) Favorites include the wonderful psych-dipped  "Let's Be Natural" and   " Good Times Roll."  " Cheese And Onions,"  the sit...

(4 For Friday) *   Charity Chic Music discovers  The Nonesuch Collection CD at a charity shop and gives us a taste. *  A list of 30 movies that are tough to watch 'twice' at deMilked .  *  The notorious “Bull Island” Music Festival in 1972 might have been the Worst Festival Ever ! *  We've all had moments of conversation with another human being that rises high above the ordinary  "Hey, how ya doing?  Fine, how 'bout you?"  banter.  It's head-spinning, exciting, and extremely rare.  "My Dinner with Andre"  (1981)  Gene Siskel  &  Roger Ebert  both gave two-thumbs-up...but I bet they watched it by themselves. "I Got A Reason" - Moon Martin / "Escape from Domination" (1979) Good stuff. Casey Chambers Follow Me On FACEBOOK