I love music. In fact some people think I am obsessed. So, as a diversion to life and fear that GW will f@#k up again, God I hope we talk to people in Iran if we don’t I fear the ultimate worst, but again as a diversion Music!

First and Foremost since this is an initial post on Music, I do love Arlo’s Music!!!

I had 8 tracks of Runnin’ Down the Road and Washington County when they were new and of course the Restaurant thing (on LP). That said:

Some guy named Joe brought up Mike Nesmith on the Fahrenheit 32 cent story board thing. Well, its snowy and I was thumbin’ through the past today lookin’ for stuff to listen to and Joe’s comments got me. So, My favorite post-Monkee Nesmith is:

Ian Matthews album Valley Hi produced by Nesmith! Remember that one? It was on Electra with a date of ’73. I was surprised later to read that Matthews didn’t like it because it was to country. Its funny it’s the only Ian Matthews I own outside of Fairport Convention (I have heard the Cropredy festival may be on hold!!, I got friends who live on a canal boat tied down at Banbury, Oxfordshire (Beverly, ever been to Cropredy?) and >>>>…but I digress) recordings. The Valley Hi band was great in my opinion. The arrangement of 7 Bridges Road was lifted note for note by the Eagles about 4 years after this recording. Oh well, that leads to the bands instrumental effort (produced by Nesmith at the same time) called Velvet Hammer in a Cowboy Band. Anyone remember that one? Red Rhodes, Awesome pedal steel. OK it’s got a new age feel, I don’t care the music is phenomenal. It was released in 1973 on Countryside records (Nesmith’s label I believe!! well done.

While thumbing about I found another recording worth mentioning: McKendree Spring 3. Anybody remember?? It is on MCA (Yuck, they carried good artists but their recording and pressing (especially pressing) quality sucked!!!! It is dated 1972. This is an admittedly dated recording and the musicianship is not quite the level of the ones mentioned above!! (Going to the top Creole Belle by Arlo always floored me, I mean, in my opinion possibly the greatest set of musicians ever assembled, Arlo, a big well done!! But I digress) but Down By The River is always fun. When I was a kid we used to get our heads really bad and crank that thing and talk about how great it was!!! F@#kin phenomenal man far out__well, you might recall!! It is also note worthy because they did Fading Lady by Jerry Jeff (Jerry Jeff Walker played in Oklahoma City where I grew up at least 8 times a year in the period between 1973 and 1977, I was at every show!!), and Oh! In the morning by Arlo (pretty good version). Remember that first Pure Praire League album when they sang, "Listen to McKendree Sring, there so God Damn Good."

Well, I will stop here! But, if anyone comes back and want’s to talk music, it sounds fun to me…

It’s to thin to navigate and it’s to thick to plow
So let him go on mama, don’t put him down for it now
(I miss John Hartford too)

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Ever hear the Dave Edmunds song "I Love Music"? It's a good one, like everything he does, & probably expresses how you feel.

What I remember best about post-Monkee Mike Nesmith is back in college we saw a little ad in Rolling Stone which had a toll-free number you could call to see what Mike Nesmith was doing. Being that we were in the middle of nowhere, we called almost on a daily basis. Sometimes we'd get a recording advertising Mike's newest record or his concert schedule or something like that. Sometimes some guy would answer who sounded like he just woke up & he'd tell us stuff like, "Today Mike got up at noon, went to the store for a gallon of milk & some dishwashing detergent, watched some TV...."

I love Nesmith! I would've loved to have known about that phone thing back then. I probably would've called it alot lol. I met him once some yrs back & after that Arlo started comeing to that venue. Nez was a nice guy... <img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/smile.gif" width=15 height=15>

I don't have a lot of experience with Dave Edmunds actually. I have an LP called Rockpile but other than that not a lot of experience. On the Nesmith thing, I couldn't believe it when I heard he got a patent for MTV. It just seems bizarre. I remember the early videos came out long before cable (which I guess made the advent of MTV possible). THe first two video's I remember seeing were Touch Me by the Doors and Magic Carpet Ride by Steppenwolf. THey played on a local teen show called the Scene on WKY in OKC in 1968. THey were songlength production videos just like on MTV. I remember the Scene did not last long after that (the show had been around a few years by then with a band called Moby Dick andd the Wailer as the house band whose specialty was a rockin version of Tennesee Stud). Anyways, I read about that patent in like some Entertainment Mag in the GYM (the crap you read when you are sweating). It had an article about Nesmith and his mom both having very profitable patents (her's was white out, in the age of computers, white out is technical dinosaur, but we don't need no evolution talk here!)

Oh well, My two favorite solo Nesmiths are "and the hits just keep on comin'" from the early 70's with the Velvet hammer band from previously. I have played that a number of times.It has his version of Different Drum. Another was called "tropical campfires" dated 1992. This has Red Rhodes returning for a farewell album with Nesmith, (I believe Rhodes was ill for awhile). I played it more than once as well.

Dave Edmunds is one of my favorites. Got a lot of his older stuff on vinyl. If you like Rockpile, then you'll like his earlier solo albums because all of the guys from Rockpile are on his albums. Nick Lowe, Terry Williams and Billy Bremner. Lots of Everly Bros. type harmonies and good ol' rock 'n' roll.

And is it me, or did music sort of start goin' downhill in the eighties? Seemed to me that a lot of popular bands ,well, sucked, for lack of a better term. Without mentioning names, people started singing flat or like cartoon characters, harmonies became almost nonexistent and then came the screamin' atchya vocals. It also became very important to jump & bounce around on stage. I really can't listen to commercial radio these days. Most of the new stuff I listen to is on college stations.

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Zap

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I have some Nick Lowe as well, I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass, and he also payed on Little Village. There was also a Nervous on the Road Brinsley Schwarz LP Lowe was on I recall (was Edmunds on that)?) Oh well, Have you ever heard any of the R. Crumb Cheap Suit Serenaders? More than just a cartoonist!! How about Cajun? I saw Boo Zoo Chavez down New Orleans in a place called the Maple LEaf Bar. That is a great place. Thursday nights used to be Cajun night. Last time i was there they had Rebirth Brass Band on Thursaday Night, it was fun but I loved cajun night. It was great. i saw a band called File there and the whole bar was a dance floor. Only benches on the sides. Everyone was doing the Cajun Two step (it was one and two one and two all night long). Wonderful place. The bar itself was in that movie Angel Heart where Brownie McGhee played a bluesman named Sweets. The bar is out on Oak Street If I recall good trolley ride from downtown during the day but dangerous at night!

Oh well, Boozoo was good on accordian. He played this solo thing called Forty One Days, Been Forty One Days. He could create a great sound, accordian / voice combo thing, Any accordian fans out there? I think my favorite accordian solo was Flaco Jimenez on that Doug Sahm LP in the early seventies. They did the Delmore Brothers Blues Stay Away and Flaco played this great Blues solo real loose and ragged. That was the album Dylan was on and David Bromberg, Dr John. Dylan was listed under another name because of a contractual thing. That is one that has not surfaced on CD (a few songs on one of the many Sahm collections has come out but not the best ones).

Isn't it funny how some people can play a thousand notes a minute and they are all right and well executed and boring (like Zappa on the guitar, I love Zappa's music but his guitar solo's were boring (my opinion) then somebody can play just a few tastefully or soulfully placed notes at the right spot and you just go wow, brillant!!

Gotta go!

I have all of Nesmiths albums. Those you mnentioned are good ones. he wrote some of the Monkees stuff as well...

I've never been to Oxfordshire PSBeaty, nearest I've go on a regular bases is Linconshire; Alan's mum lives there.

I Don't know much about the Monkeys either! But if you want to chat about record collections, I'll join in. I haven't been able to buy much this past year with one thing and another though.

But saying that for my Birthday I did treat myself to a 4 CD box set £40, $75. Really nicely presented too. It's from MOJO a music Mag over here, one of the better all rounded ones, you might get it over there I'm not sure. It looks like your getting an LP box set to look at, it's a compalation of rare psychedelic from 65-69.
Well worth it's money. Acid Drops, Spacedust & Flying Saucers it's called if you want to try and get hold of a copy.

Or if you want to look at the on line mag www.mojo4music.com

By the Way Alan is a huge Frank Zappa fan and though he commends you for liking him too he's just uttered "peasant" at your comment about finding his Guitar solos boaring. <img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/smile.gif" width=15 height=15>

Speaking of Frank Zappa, have you got the new ones? Joe's Domage, Joe's Corsage and Quadriphilla? We did get those in from your side of the pond from the Barfko and Swill site, there's a link via www.zappa.com

I do like the Joe's (mothers) stuff, though I do kinda like his later stuff too.

It's cold in my Kitchen where my computer is so I'm going to go now and warm up.
See you
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Some book & record stores around here carry MOJO. That sounds like a neat record. Davy Jones of the Monkees btw was from Manchester England...

Hey Beverley, I knew that Zappa comment might pull you out after all those lyric posts. Like I said I love Zappa's music (We are only in it for the money and Suzy Creamcheese the 60's stuff right up to weasels ripped my flesh are my favorite) and I like his guitar playing when he shows some restraint but Shut up and play your guitar never thrilled me.

About UK music, I have seen a similar compilation here and almost got it. I just got a bunch of Pretty Things. I love 60's punk / psychedelia (I gew up with garage bands. But I was kinda unfamilar with a lot of the bands on that UK compilation and didn't have the money.

That Scene show I mentioned, I remember seeing the 13th Floor Elevators play on it (as well as the Chessmen with Jimmie Vaughn and the Fever Tree and Moving Sidewalks (Billy Gibbons of ZZ Tops, good times. Do you know who Guy Clark is? He is a Texas Folkie, in the sixties he hung out with the Elevators (I love these bizarre stories). I saw him with Townes Van Zandt and Doc Watson one time in a little place in OKC and he was telling stories about him and Townes hangin' with the Elevators at a teen club called the Zodiac in OKC in '66 and '67.

Oh Well, I make it to Oxfordshire fairly regularly, Stay at a place called Hook Norton (good brewery, Old Hooky Ale and not a bad pint of Best). That CropRedy Festival near Banbury is a Fairport Convention yearly happening put on at Dave Pegg's place (or was). Richard Thompson was there for a reunion of sorts and Albert Lee showed up in the past few years. Its pretty cool cause one of the old canals runs right up to the stage and you can (if you get there early enough) tie a canal boat right by the stage.

I don't know if you like Irish music, but if you ever have the chance you gotta catch Christy Moore. Incredible Incredible Incredible. I have caught him once in THe Great American Music Hall in San Fran. Made'm close the bar before he would play because he called Drink The Irish Curse!

and on 80's music, did you ever hear "The Man Who's Head Expanded" I believe by a UK band.

Gotta Go!

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Always good to see a discussion of Dave Edmunds & Rockpile break out, however brief, but I don't think that PSB & Capt. Zap are talking about the same Rockpile album. I believe, PSB, that you have Dave's 1971 debut album, Rockpile, for which the group was later named. It does seem, PSB, that you do own a Rockpile album, however, if you have the song "Breaking Glass."

Rockpile is often erroneously thought of as a one-album band. I'm here to clear up that bit of history, free of charge.

When Lowe & Edmunds formed Rockpile in 1977, Lowe was under contract with Columbia Records & Edmunds with Swan Song, & neither label would release its artist from his contract. So Rockpile would record songs with Lowe on vocals & these would appear on a Nick Lowe album. They'd record songs with Edmunds on vocals & these would appear on a Dave Edmunds album. When the Swan Song deal was up, they were free to record as Rockpile & released Seconds of Pleasure on Columbia in 1980.

But there were in fact 7 Rockpile albums total. There was the Nick Lowe albums Pure Pop For Now People & Labour of Lust & the Dave Edmunds albums Trax on Wax 4, Repeat When Necessary, & Twangin'. They also backed Carlene Carter (Johnny Cash's stepdaughter & Lowe's then-wife) on her Musical Shapes album, proving that not only was Rockpile the greatest rock-n-roll band ever, but they just may have been the best country band as well. Rockpile also contributed 2 songs to The Concert for Kampuchea album.

The Dave Edmunds solo albums Rockpile & A Pile of Rock Live are not Rockpile albums.

Labour of Lust & Repeat When Necessary were recorded at the same session. Trax on Wax & Pure Pop each include a version of "Heart of the City" with a different lead vocalist singing over the same backing track.

The aforementioned Albert Lee, BTW, has played guitar on a lotta Dave's albums.

I can never say enough about Rockpile & esp. Edmunds. Listen to Edmunds once & you almost wanna throw the rest of your rock-n-roll records away.

The breaking glass comes from pure pop for Now people I believe and the Rockpile is pretty old (could be '71). I'll have to pull it out some time and listen to it (been awhile and vinyl pulling is now a weekend activity).

After the post on garage band music I wondered off to listen to a bit. The most bizarre garage band compilation I have is called Hava Narghile / Turkish Rock 1966 to 1975. This is some strange rock music from the Turkish Hippie movement (complete with belly dancers and sixties style artwork on the cover)

Another way out compilation I found is called That's What I Call Sweet Music / American Dance Orchestras of the 1920's compiled from the collection of R. Crumb.Music from bands like Leroy Shield and The Victor Hollywood Orchestra doing Sing Song Girl and Earl Hines doing Sweet Ella May and Doc Cook and His 14 Doctors of Syncopation doing Hum and Strum.

Crumbs band the Cheap Suit Serenaders do this old timey stuff pretty well. The first i ever heard of slide guitarist Bob Brozman was with the serenaders on there third album (lots of Hawaian slide on it). That album has a great version of Singin' in the Bathtube. The also do stuff like Persian Rug and Mysterious Mose. Great stuff!!!

Only two bands I know have regularly recorded with a saw soloist: the Cheap Suit Serenaders and the Flatlanders.

Enough of this foolishness!

That reminds me. Someone did a cool video of Starsky & Hutch (The real origional ones) using "Cruel to Be Kind" as the background music for it. I downloaded it & it's pretty neato...

I havn't, to tell the truth, heard of any or most of the people/groups you PSB and Joe have mentioned. I was born in 78, and the only thing my mum ever listned to was and still is Leonard Cohen. Now I do like his stuff a lot, but I find it hard to listen to it because even if my mum isn't around I can still hear her voice in my head over explaining evey lyric. It's like having someone stealing the flavour from what your eating and telling you what it tastes like with their mouth full!

Another thing is I can never remember names of things, I have over 200 LPs and 300 CDs but I couldn't recall most of the tittles, but give me a discription of the cover and I'll pull it straight out.

Keep giving me names though. I like buying different stuff ( when I have the money, Arlo needed another £100 worth of clothes to grow out of today.)

Irish music? try to find someone by the name of Anthony John Clark. I go and see him quite often. He is an excelent song writer and a very good Guitar player. Really friendly guy, we send Emails to one another sometimes.

And before I go something is telling me to mention a guy called Daniel Dale Johnston 'Rejected Unknown' that is a weired but good CD, I think he's from the US.

speaking of Fairport Convention though you reminded me that I have a First press Island lable copy of Liege & Lief. I found it in what you'd call a thrift shop 50p-$1 <img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/smile.gif" width=15 height=15> and if you like them have you heard of The Incredible String Band?

Oh and one of the best gigs I've ever been to was to see Arthur Lee 'Love' on the Forever Changes tour, man that was good. We were right up in front of the stage, and knowing that he's about 60, he didn't half give a good show. I thought that with it being just him and a whole new band it would sound a little off, but it was unbelieveable.
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1978, why Beverley your just a pup! So many Frank Zappa posts for such a youngin'. Well, its difficult to share music without being able to put it on, aint it! But if you are interested in learning something about music that stretches beyond what is popular, I suggest looking at the names of the musicians that backed Arlo on his first few albums. Ry Cooder is there, and I recommend anything he ever did (even his first recordings with Captain Beefheart which might appeal to a Zappa fan). Another Fellow named Clarence White who made quite a name for himself playing with Arlo, the Byrds and various other outfits (most notably, in my opinion, with a fellow called Gene Parsons). I know people that only associate him with a Bluegrass band called the kenturny cuckles (or Kentucky Colonels). There is also Don Rich who made some wonderful music with Buck Owens in the sixties. And I believe James Burton who did the original Suzy Q lick and played in Elvis' band. That Albert Lee guy that came up plays in a similar style as Burton and he came from the UK (a band called Heads Hands and Feet). If you want to check out some good music from the past, these are good names to sort out (don't know how much you know about this stuff). Each one can lead in some interesting places (Ry probably being the most overall diverse but follow Clarence into who he influenced aka Tony Rice who just put out an awesome set with Peter Rowan).

As far as Leonard Cohen, I suggest a Jennifer Warnes recording called Famous Blue Raincoat.

And to Captain Zap and his 80's comment. Popular music went waondering away from me in about '74 (I think 74 for all this is off the top of my head and it actually involvesd Arlo sort of!)The last FM station in OKC to give up independent set lists did so that year. I decided to hassle the DJ in protest. I had to request a perfectly good song that would never get played with the new format of prepared set lists. I picked Walkin Down the Line off the 1st Pete and Arlo Album (He had a troubled mind cause he had flyin feet). I was working and so I called the station every 30 minutes for 8 hours requesting that song. Not only did he not play it (and he said he would) but since that day i don't believe I have heard any song but City of New Orleans (granted an excellent song)by Arlo on radio!!! It aint right i tell you!!!

THat was the same year Jesse's Jigs and Other Favorites came out (and never made it on the radio) That album gets my vote for Steve Goodmans best effort.

OK, Bye Bye

Oh Ya, did Arthur Lee do My Little Red Book? Always loved the way he did that (at last I think it was him)

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