A Restorative is the ninth issue of Your Heart Out and can be downloaded for free in our library. This particular excursion takes in The Decorators and Dylan, Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach, Raybeats and 8 Eyed Spy, Arthur Verocai and Joyce, Carla Bley and Charlie Haden, Barry Gifford and Nick Tosches, and many places of interest and intrigue along the way. So print it off, pack it in your tote bag, head off to your favourite cafe or park, and lose yourself. And then please tell the world all about us. It's good to share ... and don't forget to visit our companion site at http://www.thelondonnobodysings.blogspot.com/
The front cover, by the way, this time around is one of Neville Brody's fantastic Fetish creations, and as 8 Eyed Spy are particular favourites, and there seems to be something of a noir theme going on, it had to be used. Abbey Lincoln with Max Roach's combo is on the back cover in a still from one of surprisingly several clips of performances from We Insist!
We couldn't possibly bid a bientot to the elegant eighth issue of Your Heart Out (which oh yes you can download for free in the library on the left) without sharing this little story.
There was at the end a bit of a Dennis Potter thing going on, with references to Pennies From Heaven and The Singing Detective, the music of the dancebands of the '30s, Al Bowlly, Lew Stone, and all that. Well, it's spooky how these happen. No sooner had the virtual presses begun to roll than we came across the excellent blog, Another Nickel In The Machine, which is officially our favourite place on the web, and a superbly timely post relating to the death of Al Bowlly where Mr Nickel In The Machine admits to a fascination with Bowlly that originated with the Potter plays. But that's not the 'alf of it.
On the day YHO8 hit the streets I was on a train into town when at Falconwood a group of senior gents got on. All very dapper, if a little red in the face. Judging by the black ties and bulging collars they were coming from the crematorium. They had obviously had a drink or two. They sat down near me. And before you knew it they had burst into song. On The Sunny Side Of The Street. Very nice singing too. A nice bit of harmonising. Even a touch of scat. Apologising for disturbing the peace, one of the party explained they'd just been seeing an old colleague off, and that he loved that song. Then before I could say anything they were off again. Singing something about a canary with circles under its eyes.
So just as things start to get surreal the train pulls into Kidbrooke and a young girl with an accordian and Eastern European gypsy get-up gets on. And oh yes my good companions can't believe their luck. "Come 'ere darling. Come and sit by us and give us a nice tune ..." She is not sure whether to be scared stiff or thank her lucky stars. But she soon realises they are genuine, and so she smiles a lot, plays a few sad old folk tunes while the old codgers wipe tears from their eyes. Then it's Lewisham, and she's off, several pounds richer.
The old boys incidentally were all ex-Thames river boat captains, and yes there really is a song called My Canary's Got Circles Under Its Eyes. Al Bowlly is among those that sang it, of course. And given the theme of this story here's an appropriate clip ...
In the aching eighth issue of Your Heart Out (which can be downloaded for free in our library on the left) there was definitely a bit of a Johnny Thunders thing going on. It was all Bobby Gillespie's fault, mentioning an old edition of Zigzag with Johnny on the cover which came out around the time So Alone and the exquisite You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory came out late '78ish.
I loved that record. The only other Johnny Thunders record I have loved anywhere near as much is Copy Cats which he made with Patti Palladin. Patti is one of the greats. And it's nothing short of criminal that her work as one half of Snatch remains out of circulation. About all that is freely available is this clip.
But at least there is a promo video of Patti and Johnny doing Crawfish ...
There was a bit of a culture of dusty old vinyl thing going on in the enticing eighth issue of Your Heart Out (The Historical Romance, which can be downloaded for free in the library to your left, printed off, packed in your bag and taken down the park to read in the sun). Not just the Solesides crew heading off en masse to dig in the crates of a hidden record store, but a perfect excuse to heap more praise on Luscious Jackson who still do not get enough credit for being the best group of the '90s and there's no question about that when you see performances like this.
One of the great things about Luscious Jackson was that they'd received their education when the mythical NYC downtown thing was at its peak and all the sounds were getting mixed up, with the punk, reggae, disco, early hip hop, african sounds, whatever getting mixed up, and that all came out in their sound at a time when you could get some pretty strange looks in the street for mentioning the Delta 5, Ze, Bush Tetras, On-U Sound.
The whole thing of the Solesides crew taking their portable turntable down to the basement of the store with them while they were crate digging conjures up a lovely image. It makes you think of old issues of Grand Royal when they'd have pages of old portable record players, and you'd be drooling. It also makes me think of the video for the LJs' Jill Cunniff and her shoulda been a massive hit Lazy Girls where she's got her turntable and takes it for a spin on the subway and then down to the beach which I take it is the one at Coney Island which she'd ben campaigning for. The whole City Beach is quite lovely too in a mixed up way if you like a bit of bossa, a bit of Janis Ian or Laura Nyro and some of the more adventurous contemporary r 'n' b sounds that never seem to make the charts like this classic from Sunshine Anderson ...
During the perambulations that were part of putting together the edifying eighth issue of Your Heart Out (The Historical Romance, which you can download for free here), there was definitely something of a Mo' Wax thing going on. And why wouldn't there be?
This particular diversion was prompted by re-reading Jeff Chang's excellent Can't Stop Won't Stop 'dub history' of the hip hop generation. And being aware of Chang's part in the Solesides scene with the Blackalicious guys, the Shadow, Latyrx, and all that, it seemed too tempting not to make the connection to the central role those guys played in the Mo' Wax years.
That stuff really stands the test of time too. The Dan Dan the Automator Man stuff too. And in particular the Dr Octagon stuff with Kool Keith, like Blue Flowers. Not a track you hear every day on the radio, but the world would be a better place if it were heard more often.
But twist my arm and force me to pick just one Mo' Wax release then I guess I would go for Nia by Blackalicious which in terms of the label's timeline is supposedly when it was past its best efore date but forget that. Nia is one of the best hip hop records, full stop. Great cover. You see why Blackalicious worked so well was the balance between a love for the music, having something to say, and a gift for putting all the elements together in a vital way. That ain't easy ...
There was a bit of a Chip Taylor thing going on in the engaging eighth issue of Your Heart Out, The Historical Romance (which can be downloaded for free in our library on your left). What I hadn't realised at the time was that in the very near future the good people at Ace would be releasing a round-up of Chip Taylor songs as part of their essential songwriters/producers series. That will definitely be worth getting hold of.
In the meantime there is an excellent interview with Chip at the Spectropop site, which makes for great reading. And don't all those photos of the original 45s just make you drool. It was particularly pleasing to see a mention of Kathy McCord, Billy Vera's sister. Seems Kathy was the one who just might have got to record Angel of the Morning first. And they say Evie Sands was unlucky ... And if you haven't a spare $100 you might want to check out the CTI Never Sleeps page on the LP she made for the label. Beautiful record. Maybe we should petition Rev-ola to release it. And it should be made a capital offence for any record to be described as acid folk!
I don't think there are any unexpected videos of Kathy McCord on YouTube but there are a number of wonderful performances by the godlike Evie Sands. Like this piece of pure punk rock ... But before we go, a question for you. One of Chip Taylor's songwriting and production partners was Ted Darryl ... what can you tell me about him?
So somehow in the erudite eighth issue of Your Heart Out, known to its betters as The Historical Romance and available to download for free in the library on your left) we made the jump from The Remains performing Don't Look Back to Billy Vera talking about singers' singers and how being a bit of a cult can rankle. He referred explicitly to his partnership with the great Judy Clay, one of my all-time favourite singers.
I first came across Judy in her own right (sans William Bell) via some of the early Kent Records compilations. It may have been Dancing Till Dawn, one of my particular favourites, where Judy sings You Busted My Mind. Sings? She scared the hell outta me. And as I accumulated Kent compilations over the years it was always a joy to come across a Judy Clay cut.
So to celebrate Judy's special talent it seemed like a fun idea to put together a bit of a mix of those Kent collected cuts. With a couple of Billy Vera related tracks to boot. This collection is not be missed ... But in case you need any inducement here's THAT track ...
