Connections 114 28th January 2012
'...and so to the playlist..,' said the, erm, walrus to the carpenter...
Troglodyte by The Jimmy Castor Bunch (RCA Records and Tapes 1972) It's basically an obscene publication!! The 'Way back in time' at the start has been much sampled, as indeed has a substantial part of this album, 'It's Just Begun.' It makes you wonder how those pioneers of Hip Hop and so on arrived at this stuff. It's rap in itself really, 8 years afore the likes of Fab Five Freddie and Grandmaster Flash et al. A far cry from Jimmy's days as a Doo Wop singer. Jimmy was very 'street' and was not one to be screwed over. His rule was, 'You sample me, you damn well pay me...' So, given that The Spice Girls were one of the groups that used his work on 'If You Can't Dance, ' it might have been appropriate to play the flip side..I'll sock it to yer, Daddy...
Who Do You Think You Are by The Spice Girls (Virgin EMI Records 1996) According to Rolling Stone journalist and biographer David Sinclair, "Scary, Baby, Ginger, Posh and Sporty were the most widely recognised group of individuals since, "John, Paul, George and Ringo..." Uffff time has passed by this pentet...so shall we....Luckily, and somewhat controversially, Jimmy Castor's samplers also included...
Sabotage by The Beastie Boys Grand Royal Records (1993) Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Internal Excellence... Some of the Beastie Boys' work has been described as 'The Pet Sounds of Hip Hop..' They started circa 1979 as a hard core punk band and this track's described as 'Rapcor' ...scratching and punk riffs, just a case o' gettin' em together, great stuff! The video was a real feature, directed by Spike Jonze (Do you think he's really Jones?!) a spoof 70's cop show intro...
...that is said to have inspired the opening sequence to Danny Boyle's 'Trainspotting...' Not bad for 3 wide boyz from Brooklyn. The Connection? Well, they appeared on 'American Bandstand, 'as did a number of folk really, but as did...
The Boat That I Row by Lulu (Columbia (EMI) Records 1967) Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie
changed her stage name to Lulu, it would seem, to save time. In 1967, she was still only 19 years old, having hit the big time in 1964, with 'Shout, ' a song in which she did very effectively...This is a Neil Diamond song that in itself is unusual as it's not the usual girlie 'lustful lament' of the day, but rather an introspective philosophical song that, had a fella of 33 sung it, would have been a bit self indulgent, but for Lulu was douze points...No wonder she married a Bee Gee....Lulu has sung in duets with, and in Aida written by Tim 'nicey' Rice(y) and...
Curtains by Elton John (DJM Records 1975) When you put it on paper, a concept album about two folk having a mediocre time trying to cut it in London and not really making it, might not really cut the mustard with record execs. But somehow, that's what Elton and partner in crime Bernie Taupin did with Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy.
This was a very lavishly packaged album, presumably to put the consumer into that 'place' as it were. It's not one stacked with hits, rather works as a cohesive whole (we like cohesive holes!). Albeit, this song, Curtains, not really about soft furnishings, rather name checks 'Scarecrow,' and 'A dandelion Dies In The Wind,' that were a couple of the first songs that Elton and Bernie wrote together. The Connection:- Elton utilised the services of multi instrumentalist Caleb Quaye (I said percussionist on the show) as did Stephen Stills...part of...
Season Of The Witch by Super Session (Columbia Records 1968) One day, presumably, Al Kooper, the bloke who played the Hammond Organ on 'Like A Rolling Stone,' by Bob Dylan, was bored and thought, 'Sod it, let's make an album...' He called together some session players of good repute and blues guitarist Mike Bloomfield. For one day, they played away, all bluesy and all good. There were two days studio time booked and the next day, Al got there with the boys and Mr Bloomfield, well, he'd just...buggered off!!! Luckily, if you're a man of Al Kooper's means, you can just ring up Stephen Stills and get him out of bed to come down and play to make up side 2...All in the process of making a master piece...This song is over 11 minutes long but is by no means a waste of 11 minutes of your life...both Al and Mike (when he could be arsed) played with...
On The Road Again by Bob Dylan (Columbia Records 1965) Bob was the darling of the folk scene in the early 1960's but by 1965, was hitting some fairly copious amounts of sherry trifle, which resulted in his lyrics becoming more cryptic than ever. He was also very much influenced by the Chicago Blues and was rubbing shoulders with the likes of the Beatles, whom he inspired, and rather like with the Beach Boys, there came this competitiveness...although I'm not sure Bob would ever be so crass as to allude to it!! This song is a far cry from his earlier protest songs, full of imagery of Grandma's in fridges and Grandads brandishing walking swords. All good whole some stuff...His song 'All Along The Watchtower,' connects us to...
Angel by jimi Hendrix (MCA Records Recorded c 1970 released 1997) Unfortunately, dying is one of the biggest career moves you can make in Rock and Roll. After poor Jimi's untimely demise and ascension into the 27 Club...
much of the material he'd been working on since Electric Ladyland got into the hands of a bloke called Alan Douglas, who took it on himself to put post humus session musician backing on to some of the work Jimmy had left and well, it was a bit of a mess really. The ethereally named, 'First Rays of The New Rising Sun,' was released eventually released in 1997 and readdressed this issue to some extent...Great song to sing along to after a couple of Rakis it is too...In one of those bizarre historical twists, Jimmy supported The Monkees for a run of 5 nights in 1967. Rumour has it he got booted off the tour for giving the crowd a one finger salute...The Monkees had Mike Nesmith and Mike Nesmith was in...
Joanne by Michael Nesmith and The First National Band (RCA Records and Tapes 1970) In 1970, it was hard to be taken seriously if you were an ex Monkee, The First National boys were playing with the likes of The Flying Burrito Brothers. The shame of it is that Mike was a very accomplished musician whose work was oft overlooked. As it was, this song was the spawn of what has become known as 'Country Rock...' and all the Tipp-ex you need...:-D
The First National Band covered, 'I Looked Away,' written by Eric Clapton, erstwhile with...
Wrapping Paper by The Cream (Reaction Records 1966) Eric Clapton left the Yardbirds in 1965 because he felt they had got a bit commercial, so he got together Rock's first 'Supergroup' and recorded this Jack Bruce/ Peter Brown composition...cutting edge, Man....Drummer Ginger Baker once endearingly referred to this as 'The biggest piece of s*&t he'd ever heard...' It's not that terrible, but it aint White Room...Cream toured with The Loading Zone, who were on RCA Records as were....
Bad by The Jimmy Castor Bunch (RCA Records and Tapes 1972) 15 years before Mr Jackson!! Bad is good!! Rest in peace, Sir...
and, as ever, that's the end of another show, I hope you enjoyed...spread the love!!
Stay cool
TimX
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