The College Crowd Digs Me

(a short jaunt) "Fast Life Rider" - Johnny Winter / "Second Winter" (1969) "Done bought me a ticket.  The trunk's already gone. Lord, don't bother, ain't gonna be here long. Lord, first I'd rather this be the last of you-all...goin' down." Who doesn't like Johnny Winter ?  The last track on the album was mostly an improvised, off-the-cuff blues jam and it sizzles.  Wah-wahs and stinging guitar throughout with his backing band staying right there with him.  I learned later that when wearing headphones, the right and left panning effects of "Fast Life Rider" really messes with the head.  This I have not tried.  Johnny's third album.  (WANT) "Sexy Little Thing" - Chickenfoot / "Chickenfoot"  (2009) "Well, she got back and up front. She's everything any country boy need. Inside is outside. Now what you see is what she got up her sleeve." Sammy Hagar will never be accused of being deep. ...

"K" - Kula Shaker (1996 - Rei 2016)      “K” was the first album released by Kula Shaker .   A psychedelic biscuit, made even more so by the mixing of Eastern Indian flavors with hard rock and Brit-Pop sensibilities.  Led by guitarist and vocalist Crispian Mills (son of the original “Parent Trap” girl… Hayley Mills ),  "K " sounds trippy, catchy, fresh, and yet, somehow nostalgic.  Crispian's guitar riffing is strong and entertaining.  And the album borrows wonderfully from the Beatles' psych era, George Harrison, as well as harder attitudes from that era.  I've spun this neo-psych album plenty since picking it up, and there really are no bad tracks.  And it's an album well worth revisiting with fresh ears. "K" - Kula Shaker (back)      Favorites include the psych heavy… ”Grateful When You’re Dead/Jerry Was There."    The first half has Mills riffing hard in a familiar late '60s style and singing with ...

 (a short jaunt) "How Are You" - Kinks / "Think Visual" (1986) "How is your life?  How is it going? Are you still dreaming and making big plans? How are the nights?  Are they still lonely? Are you still struggling the way that I am?  Oh, how are you?" From The Kinks 22nd album.  Really?!  And it's one of those songs that fell through the cracks and went mostly unnoticed.  As did the album.  But what a damn good song.  Rainy and grey and...hopeful.  Wear it on the days when the melancholy pulls on your sweater.  Screw the video.  Let your head play its own story. "Only A Fool Would Say That" - Steely Dan / "Can't Buy A Thrill" (1972) "I heard it was you talkin' 'bout a world where all is free. It just couldn't be. And only a fool would say that." Steely Dan's debut was a fantastic album with a fantastic closing track with a bonus fantastic album cover.  I put Becker and Fagen right up there with Kei...

 (4 For Friday) *   The great Norm Macdonald has a fantastic conversation with Larry King .  You're gonna wanna see this! *   "Talk amongst yourselves.   Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time .   Are they out of their minds or merely smoking the green weed?  Discuss." *   Make mine a double!  A taste from the Chicago Transit Authority debut at Reel and Rock . *   This entertaining film... "Gangster Story"  (1959)...stars a much younger  Walter Matthau as a successful bank robber on the run.  Very cool and strange seeing Mathau with a lithe cut.  To me, he will always be the hunched-over Coach Buttermaker.  Tempus Fugit in reverse, my friends.  "It's Been A Long Time" - Southside Johnny (Van Zandt & Springsteen)  /  "Better Days" (1991) Good stuff. Casey Chambers Follow Me On FACEBOOK

“Live Trips 1971" - C.A. Quintet (1971 - Rei 2017) "Live Trips 1971" is a reissue of a live concert the C. A. Quintet recorded at the Lake Pepin High School in Wisconsin.  The show was recorded almost as an afterthought using just two microphones. Surprisingly, the sound quality is pretty good.  Much better than one might expect.  It's a fun listen with garage-rock attitude and jam psych goodness.   And I enjoyed spinning it, but the album is not a “must own” by any means.  Very good for what it is, but there's nothing here that really stands out.   This live album sounds very little like  C.A. Quintet's better-known studio square… "Trip Thru Hell.” (1969)  Now that one is a dark and edgy psych biscuit that has earned its reputation.  But the music here has a much more garage-rock feel.  Plenty of moxy with some great solos, but a little less of the psych-trippage.  As I said, the sound quality is pretty good, and the...

(a short jaunt) "Seagull" - Bad Company / "Bad Company" (1974) "Seagull, you fly across the horizon into the misty morning sun. Nobody asks you where you are going, Nobody knows where you're from." This is the last song on Bad Company's debut album.  And I just didn't get it.  This wasn't "Rock Steady."   This wasn't "Ready For Love."    And I would eject the CD every time it got to that song.  It was like forever and a day before I ever heard the song again.  Years!  Then one night out of the blue I hear Paul Rodgers's voice from my radio singing the song.  That same song I automatically skipped over without a thought.  But I was wearing a different face then and listening from a different place.  And it was at that moment I knew  "Seagull"  was the most beautiful farewell song I'd ever heard.  (OWN) "San Francisco Girls" - Fever Tree / "Fever Tree" (1968) "Out there i...

(4 For Friday) *   The Hog's Ear Report shows us a short stack of vinyl reissues he recently picked up online and in the wild.  Always something to pique our interest.  *   Very cool optical illusion you'll be practicing all day. *   You're gonna wanna stream the  new John Carpenter song .  I hope the movie is half as good.  *   And here are 30 creepy photos to go with it. "Melvin Laid An Egg" - Bloodrock / "Bloodrock" (1970) Good stuff. Casey Chambers Follow Me On FACEBOOK

"Touch" - Touch (1969) Touch , with their eponymous and only album, brought us some psych-dusted prog rock.  Or prog-heavy psych-rock.  Somewhere in the middle, but definitely leaning closer to prog is where this album lands.  It's keyboard-driven, for sure, but without all the pompous self-flagellation other keyboardists would sometimes fall into.  There are also some tasty guitar burns and bass runs to be found.  And the vocals are tight.  "Touch" is considered some of the earliest prog stuff to come out of the States. Keyboard wizard and writer, Don Gallucci was 19 when Touch went into the studio to make the album.  Prior to Touch ... Galluci was responsible for the "Louie Louie" keyboard riff that everybody has come to know while he was a member of The Kingsmen .  He was just 15.  He had to quit because Galluci wasn't allowed to play at many of the places where The Kingsmen performed.  So... "Louie Louie...he had to go now." ...

(4 For Friday) *   The Rising Storm  gives us a gentle reminder about the 1968 self-titled debut album from Quicksilver Messenger Service . *  Perhaps you have heard of them.  Here is the Official "The Velvet Underground" Trailer for the documentary coming in October. *   As visitors walk past this piece of artwork , the child becomes old.  Awesome and strange. *  The 1968 drugsploitation film... "Psych-Out" ....is now streaming on Youtube.  It's a pretty clunky story, but it does have its hippie moments.  Plus we get to see The Seeds and Strawberry Alarm Clock  do their thing.  Even Jack Nicholson,  in his fictional band, jams a bit.  But it's  Dean Stockwell and Bruce Dern  that really steal the movie.  It's all love, drugs, and rock and roll.  Also, here is the soundtrack album  I picked up last year.   "The Late Show" - Jackson Browne / "Late For The Sky" (1974) "Everyone ...