Getting Your Mojo Working

I don't know.

I'm feeling kind of cranky and with limited attention but want to crank out a few posts tonight so I get the feeling like I'm actually making headway, though this whole process has turned into a kind of Sisyphean task. (Cranky in two ways, if you will)
I post on a regular schedule, but I acquire more than that regularly and while I work on the new arrivals there's still the vast backlog of the existing collection that needs doing.

Well, that's what hobbies are about then.
If I completed a collection I'd have to find other shit to do.

In This Dream (1984)

Mojo Sect were from Umeå, Sweden.
This appears to be the only thing they ever released.

It's very of the time and quite nice in that ethereal "We have a Chorus pedal and we're going to turn it to 11" kind of way.

Of note is that the drummer and singer would later resurface in the band Komeda who were somewhat a hip flavor of the month back in the tail end of the 90s.


And now, a quick twofer....

 

 Dance With Me (1965)

The Mojo Men. From San Francisco.

This one's a bit of a novelty stomper. Play loud.

Sit Down I Think I Love You (1966)

Way back in the day before the internet and having access to all the information in the world at your fingertips because no matter how interested you are in anything there is always somebody way more obsessed with that shit than you and they'll devote themselves to getting together a website to show the world their authority on said subject, a person had to utilize whatever they could find as a guide.

When I first became interested in 60's garage/punk/psychedelia there was very little by reference other than word of mouth from collectors and a couple of magazines devoted to it.

But first and foremost was the original guidebook, "Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From the First Psychedelic Era" double lp compiled by Lenny Kaye (aka Patti Smith's guitarist). It was a grand introduction to both some of the big names and a number of obscurities.

Once bitten by the garage bug, I tried to hunt down my own personal copy of every item on that album and at one point had virtually succeeded when my interests and disposable income went elsewhere.

All of which is a lot of words to say that this is where I first heard the A side and why I have a copy.

Sunshiney California Pop at its finest.

More 60s Shite

I'm tired and need to make coffee.

The Girl I Love (1965)

One of at least five different bands calling themselves the Lost Souls all at about the same time in different parts of the world.

Of special note is that this is NOT the Long Island band that foisted Billy Joel upon the world as a musician. This one is actually listenable.

This one was on Bang Records and as such like the Strangeloves probably didn't exist as anything but a studio creation of the producer looking to make a buck or two off unsuspecting teens. If either song had become a hit they'd have recruited some enterprising young men to impersonate the concept for a paying audience. It didn't so they didn't bother.

Too bad, the flip here "Simple to Say" is a nice garage number.

All You've Got (1967)

Here they're called the Lovin', but previous to that Children, after that the Nerve and finally Duffy Taylor Blues.

Here they make a nice Mod Pop racket for you and your Vespa.

Jesters and Jokers

I'm not going to work too hard on this post.
I don't usually work that hard, but I'm going to just go with it.

The quality of the music itself is more than anything I might add to it

Jesters of Newport (1965)

Yeah, I paid the princely sum of twenty bucks for this monster back in the middle 80s.
Currently you would not be so lucky.
Even so.
Worth every fucking penny.

Jokers Wild (1967)

From Minneapolis, MN. Both sides are great stuff.

500.

Somehow we have managed to let this nonsense get this far. Perhaps too far.

This, ladies and germs is the 500th post.

And to what do we owe this auspicious occasion?

It's the Key to Happiness.

As so beautifully and tersely outlined by Mr. Peanutbutter :

Wise words indeed.

And now on with our show.

Chimpanzee Rocket Ride (1961)

So you'd think for this milestone occasion, I'd have planned well in advance and prepared some kind of extra special post of exquisite rarities or some kind of sonic Holy Grail record that people can only dream about hearing.

You should know me better than that by now.

I'm giving you a pair of space themed novelty songs on weirdly split singles. Here Mike Lawing and the Famous Keys give you "Chimpanzee Rocket Ride" backed with the Penetrators (one of umpteen bands by that name) who do a rousing instrumental called "Blitzkrieg"
Perfect for surfing and late night tiki torch marches.

Everyone's Gone to the Moon (1965)

We pair this with Jonathan King's magnum opus about the future "Everyone's Gone to the Moon" which is inexplicably backed by a cockney flavored rock and roll number about "Little Reuben" I won't pretend to understand. Just lay back and think of England.

This particular Jonathan King track has been quite a favorite around the Swinging Singles Club hallowed halls for many a year, or should I say, many a moon? I hope it amuses you as much as it does us.

The Homer & Jethro Project #50

Half a hundred

This is a lot of typing.

#50

March 1965 - lsp-3357 - Sing Tenderly and other Great Love Ballads

Here we go. Back to the start taking popular songs of the day and giving them that certain Homer and Jethro special country touch. All popular songs that are part of the canon and ones that a quick Youtube search will bring instantly bring up an embarrassment of riches in terms of other performers.

Do that at your leisure. In the meantime marvel at these versions. It was surprisingly the only release they had in the year 1965, for better or worse, and all the more remarkable at a time when most record releasing acts might easily put out two or three lps in any given year.

	Tenderly
	I Got Rhythm
	Fly Me To The Moon
	Moon River
	Arrivederci Roma
	Baubles, Bangles And Beads
	Misty
	Laura
	I'm In The Mood For Love
	You Made Me Love You
	Donkey Serenade
	The Very Thought Of You

Filling In

So I have another big discography project planned for Spring so I'm kind of back filling the posts until I can start that in earnest. How that will go over will remain to be seen, but I like it and this is my thing, so fuck it.

That said, I have a few random bits that don't go anywhere else to cobble together into coherence.

Big Black Truck (1978)

Peter Holsapple was part of the dBs. They were one of those bands that were Ok on record, but fucking mind blowing live. At least the couple of times I caught the at the Rat in Boston back in the 80's. This is a pre-dB solo single. There is a song on it entitled "96 Second Blowout" which should not be confused with the 10 seconds humbler "86 Second Blowout" by Yo La Tengo on their "May I Sing With Me" cd, but I don't doubt that Ira Kaplan and I have a lot of crossover in our respective record collections.

Apple of my Eye (1965)

Roy Head and the Traits were from San Antonio in the state of Texas. They had some success later on with a tune called "Treat Her Right" a bit later in the same year as this one. It's pretty decent garage R&B. I don't really have much more to say about it besides I don't regret the two dollars I spent on it.

Getting High

I don't know much about this stuff. I don't feel the need. These singles just are.

Enjoy as such.

Flag (1989)

First single of three by Boston's long forgotten High Risk Group.
Google says they played some reunion shows in 2014.
That's about all really.
Enjoy?

(Turn on Your) Love Light (1965)

Also first of three singles by Minneapolis' long forgotten High Spirits.

Discogs says they played some reunion shows in 1984, 1998 and 1999.

That's about it really.

Enjoy?

Mankato's Finest

Back to the States for today.

Minnesota to be precise.

It's the Gestures!

Run Run Run (1964)

Released at the start of the so called British Invasion only much better than most of the crap flooding our shores from across the pond.
The Gestures hailed from Minneapolis suburb Mankato.

This wasn't some lame rehashed watered down British Invasion shit

If you listen to the music and musicianship underneath you can hear a solid underpinning of good old US Prime A Surf in all of it.

And these kids can play. It's tight as fuck and all American,baby

And the songs, Dale Menten (guitar, vocal) originals, are polished and performed perfectly.

I'll take this over just about anything contemporary to it.

Don't Mess Around (1965)

And then they do it again. "Don't Mess Around" is pure fucking genius. There's so much that happens in two minutes and twenty seconds. That bass line. The syncopation. Those guitar tones. All of it.

I love this tune.

B-side is another sweet 1-4-5 stomper.

Four sides of pure wonder.

Another one off the list

It looks like you can mark Oklahoma off your fifty states list.

Front Page News (1967)

About all I could find about this single is that the band was from Tulsa, OK and recorded this fuzzy little number in Fort Worth TX and were originally called the New Imperials.
Who cares. It's a great fucking tune.
The older generation just doesn't get the younger generation with their loud music and long hair. It's the same old story of the ages. Flip is uptempo show number that might have gotten them some regional airplay if anybody had bothered to notice.

I Lost Her (1965)

One of a pair of singles by the four Fried brothers from Penns Grove, New Jersey. Both sides of this make me happy. I only wonder if they're about the same doomed romance.

Garage Hangover has the scoop and a metric shit ton of more of  the same kind of raw 60's teen garage gooey goodness if that's what you're into.

It's a free country, more or less, and my dinner's ready.

The only song you need to listen to today.

I had some other 60's garage stuff that I thought I was going to post, but it just didn't seem up to snuff after I got to this one. So it's going it alone here today.







Sonny Flaharty & the Mark V (1965)



The song "Hey Conductor" is what the kids and record store clerks like to refer to as a "motherfuckin' Fuzz Monster" from Dayton, Oh. (Just like Guided by Voices.)

It's a zippy little number about a boy who wants to  go on a train ride and is seeking out the conductor in order to purchase a ticket because he needs that slip of paper in order to go on this trip he really wants to go on.

There is absolutely no subtext in that.


I will also add that there is another side to this record. It is precisely as terrible as the one side is awesome. Not a whit more, nor a whit less.

Can You tell this is the eleventh post I've queued tonight?

Snotty 60's shit. Comped  probably a bunch of  times already. These are my copies.

 1966 - The Reality of (Air) Fried Borsk

The Driving Stupid. It really doesn't get any better than this. Really. Listen to this and then realize that you'll be dead one day. Then listen to the other side and be glad you did.

1965 - Girl Can't Take a Joke

A listing on Arf!Arf! Records site places them in New York state. I'll trust Erik Lindgren on that point. He is an authority on such things. Song itself is a fabulous jangly bit of snot. She can dish it out, but she can't take it when someone plays with her heart. Sucker.

The Other Singles Box

For a long while I was also pretty obsessed with 60's garage/punk/psych records. I dug deep and picked up as much as I could afford along with the other multiple musical obsessions I had. (Keeping up the prolific output of The Fall alone was enough to break any starving twenty-something's bank or at the very least put a sizable dent in one's beer money.)

I broke into that box the other day with a decision to finally do away with the arbitrary vinyl segregation of that crap from the rest of my crap. It was all going to be one gigantic pile of vinyl crap from now on. There's some really good stuff in there.

Since that's how I roll, I'm a gonna start with some of shit from the New England area because that's what I wanted to listen to when I pulled this shit out.

 

Hey Little Bird (1964)

I'll Keep Seeing You (1966)

The Barbarians are probably the famous names here. They have two big claims to fame. 1. They made an appearance in some cuts of the "T.A.M.I. Show" along side of such big names as Chuck Berry, Beach Boys, an amazing James Brown and a really really baked Rolling Stones. They performed their first single "Hey Little Bird" and 2. the drummer, Moulty, had suffered an accident earlier in his youth and had lost a hand and drummed with the aid of a prosthetic hook. Not really a gimmick, but something interesting. (there was at least one other 60's percussionist with a hook in the Cryan' Shames which though hardly qualifies as a trend makes you go hmmm...) This does however come into play for the B-side of "I'll Keep on Seeing You" which features a rather over the top inspirational number entitled "Moulty" about persevering in what you want to do in life despite the setbacks you may encounter along the way....Forgive me, I'm getting misty just thinking about it...

It is truly a camp classic that I'm sure Moulty regrets agreeing to do to this very day. I can't blame him, but still I find it a rather guilty pleasure. The one thing I've found of note about this particular recording is that the actual Barbarians don't actually play on this one. Instead, Moulty's passionate inspirational plea is backed by the Band (you know, the one who backed Bob Dylan) without Levon Helm. I'm not sure that they keep this on their resume, though.

 Is This It (1965?)

Georgie Porgie put out a number of singles with a couple of different groups during the 60's. This is maybe the second or third one. Here's an interview with him. It's one of those ones where the A-side is kind of crap, but the B-side is gold. "You've Been Gone a Long Long Time" is a little garage pounder slathered in a shit ton of reverb. I'd forgotten how much I really loved this song. It's also one that for whatever reason hasn't been comped to death like most of its ilk. I have one long suppressed memory of making an epic journey home one lysergically inspired evening many many years ago because I really really needed to hear that song because it was calling to me and it was exactly the way my head sounded that evening. It was pretty blissful and we probably played it a dozen times before moving on. Ahhhh, youth.

Rag Bag (1965)


Little John & the Sherwoods on the Fleetwood label. The A-side is a reasonable garage number about dating a girl from the other side of the economic tracks. Not bad, but listenable. The money side is on the flip with "Long Hair". It's a lovely snotty fuzzy manifesto regarding hair length the upshot of which appears that despite society's disapproval of their coiffures, they're still banging society's daughters anyway. I find that message a lot more inspirational than "Moulty".