More from Ohio or thereabouts-ish

Well, it has its roots in Ohio anyway.

More or less.

A Monster and the Devil (1989)

  It was recorded in NYC in 1989.

So what happens when you take author and founder of Cleveland's punk legends the Pagans, the late Mike Hudson and set him up to read his Bukowski-esque stories backed by the Styrenes?

You get this record.

Pour yourself a few fingers of your favorite hard liquor and close your eyes and absorb in a stifling hot room on a late Sunday afternoon while a fat green fly buzzes desperately in the window screen trying to get out. It's not going to get anywhere and gets stuck behind the window banging it's skull uselessly and endlessly between the panes. In a day or two you can find it's dried husk in the sill next to your empty glass.
That's what this record sounds like.

2

Yeah.

New post. Same 5lb bag.

2 (1982)

It apparently took 6 years and a whole lot of whatever before 15.60.75 released their sophomore effort imaginatively entitled "2". 

This one is a studio effort and follows along a progression from the previous Lp. 

I'm still kind of digesting this one. I haven't had it super long, but it's definitely one that's got some songs that stick. ("Summer Fever" and a dissection of Frankie Ford's "Sea Cruise" come to immediate mind)

And as the days flow into summer, I can see this record making its way onto my listening for long bike rides should I get off my lazy ass this season and start biking to work again.

I'll probably still listen to it anyway.

Well That Was Fun. Now Back to Business as Usual or Something.

You're back.

Or maybe you never actually left or maybe you've found yourself here for the  very first time.

Doesn't matter. You're here now.

Jimmy Bell's Still in Town (1976)

For a few years I was Facebook "friends" with the late Ralph Carney who among a lot of things was in the Akron band Tin Huey. One of the cool things I got from this online "friendship" was an exposure to a number of Ohio related things that I wasn't aware of. This was easily the best. An album by a band called 15.60.75 or more affectionately known as the Numbers Band.

I had no idea that this existed and even if you'd told me it did I would probably have dismissed it as something I wouldn't like without even bothering to give it a try. I would have been very very wrong. I fucking love this record and I can't even explain why. Hell, I kind of stumble around trying to explain what they sound like to people. They're kind of like an avant-garde version of a Bar Blues band like they'd spent just as much time listening to Captain Beefheart and Albert Ayler as T-Bone Walker. The songs hit a groove, there's some low key vocals and it just runs on relentlessly. It's a fucking monster Lp and so oddly compelling listening that I'm having a hard time typing because I'm listening to it again in the headphones.

Here's a video clip of them playing the title track live in 1976. (And that's Chrissy Hynde's brother Terry on the saxophone. I like his band better than hers.)

There's a great and informative post on this blog about the trials and tribulations that went into actually making the record. the tl:dr is that it took three tries 1) show cancelled 2) the recording engineer fucked it up (the bonus track "Drive" is from this tape)  and finally 3) they recorded live in front of an initially indifferent crown opening for Bob Marley. Bob Marley. 1975. In a club in the middle of Ohio long before generations of pot smoking frat boys and Trustifarians ruined his music for fucking everyone.

So there it was. The album existed and came and went and was all but forgotten until 2013 when Exit Stencil put out a "deluxe" reissue with three bonus tracks as a double lp experience that took me a little while to track down a copy before I knew about Discogs and with a few record store people looking at me blankly.

So I present it here. Your mileage is certainly going to vary. But I really dig the fuck out of this one.

The Homer & Jethro Project #66

Well, kids. We made it. We're just mopping up here and I'm throwing caution to the wind and combining the final pair of long players into one post as a special treat and a final nail in this journey.

January 1972 - lsp-4659 - NSB - The Bandit



These last two are without Homer Haynes, but they complete the recordings of the Nashville String Band and you know, in for a penny, in for a pound and my general fetish for discographical completion.

1. "The Bandit"
2. "Estrellita"
3. "Cielito Lindo"
4. "Gay Ranchero" (J. J. Espinosa, Francia Luban)
5. "Marcheta"
6. "The Great El Tigre (The Tiger)"
7. "Spanish Eyes"
8. "You Belong to My Heart"
9. "Cumbanchero"
10. "Bandera"
11. "Vaya Con Dios"

 August 1972 - lsp-4771 -  The World's Greatest Melodies 



The only thing I have to say about this is that I'm willing to contest just about every song on this one as a "World's Greatest Melody"

"Battle Hymn of the Republic"?, "Dixie"?  The "Beer Barrel fucking Polka"?

Surely they were high when they came up with that title...

1. Battle Hymn of the Republic
2. Steel Guitar Rag
3. Fascination
4. Third Man Theme
5. Medley: I'm Thinking Tonight of my Blue Eyes/Wabash Cannonball/Hawaiian Wedding Song
6. Lara's Theme
7. La Paloma
8. St Louis Blues
9. Beer Barrel Polka
10. Dixie

The Homer & Jethro Project #65

#65

The Penultimate post and the last new record released by Homer and Jethro and one as a posthumous tribute to Homer Haynes collecting the remaining studio bits fleshed out with recent singles to make a long player.

February 1972 - lsp-4648 - The Far-Out World of 

I can't think of anything to say here so I'll just copy out the liner notes:

"Wild, wooly, wacky, weird, but never wicked, that was the world of Homer and Jethro. We were the Jet Set Hillbillies; our world extended from the posh gambling casinos of Nevada to Blake's Tavern, one of the greatest saloons of Indianapolis. There were no sacred cows in our world; our targets were beautiful ballads by composers who wanted their songs recorded badly. We were called song butchers, music manglers and more. Our lyrics were laundered for records, radio and T.V.; in person we let it all hang out and liked it much better - so  did our fans. We were lazy. Many agents criticized us for not working hard actually we just never allowed bookings to interfere with a ball game or fishing trip or just doing nothing when we felt like it.

Many acts copied up with little or no success, probably because we weren't acting. We enjoyed making people laugh or pickin' our guitar and mandolin, singing crazy songs and never taking ourselves too seriously. Many comedians made more money, but nobody had the fun we did. We didn't make the scandal sheets, maybe that's where we went wrong. We never used our families in our publicity we figured they were entitled to their privacy and it worked out fine. When Homer passed away on August 7, 1971 our world ended - from that time on it would be half a world.

It will never be the same, but half a world is better than none. To try and replace Homer would be impossible, and I'm not even gonna try. One thing I do know, on the nights I'm on stage working as a single, sometimes I'll miss my lines or play bad notes and way back in my mind I'll hear a little voice say, "Come on dumb ass, do it right."

Sincerely

Jethro Burns"