D-Sides, Orphans, and Oddities
Episodes
Thursday Jun 16, 2022
You, too, can be a Dorothy Moskowitz completist!
Thursday Jun 16, 2022
Thursday Jun 16, 2022
The Joseph Consortium (1969) Sides 1 and 2.
Written by Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice, this is the musical that everyone knows, recorded and played through a psychedelic prism. I've played this show on bass about a million times. It's almost identical to the version we all know. It's easy, it goes down nicely, and even the college shows I've played were tight like this.
Wikipedia: Joseph was first presented as a 15-minute "pop cantata" at Colet Court School in London in 1968, and was published by Novello and recorded in an expanded form by Decca Records in 1969. (Ed: This is what you're hearing.) After the success of the next Lloyd Webber and Rice piece, Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph received amateur stage productions in the US beginning in 1970, and the first American release of the album was in 1971. The musical had its professional premiere, as a 35-minute musical, at the Haymarket ice rink during the Edinburgh International Festival in 1972. It was Part Two of Bible One, a Young Vic Theatre Company production presented by the National Theatre of Great Britain. While still undergoing various modifications and expansions, the musical was produced in the West End in 1973. In 1974, its full modern format was performed at the Haymarket Theatre in Leicester and was also recorded that year. The musical was mounted on Broadway in 1982. Several major revivals, national tours, and a 1999 direct-to-video film starring Donny Osmond followed.
A long treatise on Dorothy Moskowitz.
Country Joe McDonald - Sexist Pig (1973)
Country Joe McDonald - Colorado Town (1973)
Steamin' Freeman - End of the Line (1975) Written by DM. Recorded live at Mooney's Pub Irish Pub, San Francisco, CA.
Steamin' Freeman - Southland (1975)
The drummer is Ginny Whitaker. She was credited as the drummer on the odd-ball hit "Pac-Man Fever". That band, Buckner and Garcia, had roots going back 17 years before that! Can you imagine struggling for decades and then striking oil based on a fad?
Moskowitz and Fregulia - Guess I'll Say Goodbye To Lady Day (1979) Recorded live. Released on the Blue Koala label.
Moskowitz and Fregulia - Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most (1979)
Moskowitz and Fregulia - When We Were Cool (1979)
The United States of America - Love Song For a Dead Che (1968)
The United States of America - Hard Coming Love (1968)
The United States of America - The American Way of Love (1968)
Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies - Sing-Along Song (1969)
Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies - Kaylani (1969)
Saturday Oct 09, 2021
Hodge Podge of Rarities
Saturday Oct 09, 2021
Saturday Oct 09, 2021
Gaylord & Holiday - Dixie (1977) A remnant from the Amherst Records Story show.
Santiago - Nice And Slow (1976) A remnant from the Amherst Records Story show.
Bobby Hatfield - Messin' In Muscle Shoals (1971) One half of the Righteous Brothers records some forgettable pseudo-Americana, but you can't take the pure show-biz mawkishness out of the delivery.
Bruce Haack & Miss Nelson – (Excerpt from) Dance, Sing, And Listen Again & Again! (1963) Included here because this was an early attempt to use synthesizers for more than burps and squeaks. A children's album that's pretty strange but not bad.
Charles Dodge – (Excerpt from) Synthesized Voices (1976) Liner notes: "A1 and B realized at the Columbia University Center of Computing Activities and the Nevis LaboratoriesA2 realized at the Bell Telephone Laboratories"
Pretty strange synthesized vocal music.
Cradle - Man Is A Man (1970) The Quatro sisters record a kind of Moody Blues meets Blue Cheer hybrid of prog. Suzi Quatro quit to become a solo star (mostly in England) and as Leather Tuscadero on Happy Days. Patti Quatro appeared on Fanny's Rock and Roll Survivors album. The single from that album was a cover of "I've Had It", which I remember them performing on American Bandstand, but it didn't help. I still felt kinda funny watching them.
Don Powell - Black Man (1972)
Tronquista - Hoffa's Blues (1966) Rare 1966 blues release by an anonymous R&B / blues singer in a tribute to Teamster’s President Jimmy Hoffa who was very popular with African-Americans for his stand on equal rights. It was pressed in 1966 for the Teamster’s convention in Miami and was available only at this event. The name Tronquista is the name used for the Teamsters union in Puerto Rico so this may be a clue to the identity of the artist and suggests it was privately pressed in the Miami area rather than union headquarters in Detroit.
John Strand - Remembering Laci (2003)
From WFMU:
"Remembering Laci" was written and performed by John F. Strand, a guard at Tracy, California's Deuel Vocational Institution.
Here's the Wikipedia article.
Lila - Step Into Time (1978)
Liner notes:
Dear Friend,
We are happy you are listening to our songs of the Mother. This album was inspired by the ideals of Sri Ramakrishna (1836-1886) and his wife Sarada Devi (1853-1920), great devotees of the mother, who dedicated their lives to loving tolerance and appreciation between devotees of all religions and all paths. "All the main religions and spiritual paths are true", Ramakrishna said, after practicing 80 of them one by one. "God is Form and Formless Mother, and Father, Son, Friend, Beloved. He is available in whatever way the individual heart yearns for him". We hope our songs help you in your own way. We bow to your soul and individuality.
Everyday day at noon, we pray for a new world of Love and Harmony. Join with us if you would like.
Lila
Lou Christie - Mickey's Monkey (1969) You know I am a big fan (for various reasons) of Lou Christie's Buddah Records period. From the late '60s to the early '70s, he made some pretty odd recordings, but he also made the wonderful Paint America Love. This was the album before that.
The Mam'selles - Oye Coma Va (1969)
Voodou Juju - The VooDou Ju Ju Obsession Part 1 (1969)
Richard O'Brien - Shock Treatment (1981) You kids love that Rocky Horror Picture Show. But you might not know is that there was a sequel. It was called Shock Treatment. It was not very good. And it went virtually unnoticed. In fact, it only showed at midnight movies (as did the Rocky Horror zeitgeist in time). But without the electric Tim Curry on screen, it was just another "let's make a move, guys!" dynamic. I saw RHPS once and I felt horribly embarrassed. And it takes a lot to embarrass a man who mixed plaids with stripes. I cannot imagine this. This version of the theme song is not on the OST, as it is slightly more radio-friendly (in its time) than the cast version.
Bobby Pickett and Peter Ferrara - Star Drek (1976) Yeah, the same Bobby Pickett that had a big hit with "Monster Mash". That one oddball hit kept him in cheap capes and attempts at all sorts of permutations, including comedy and disco.
Stephen Kalinich - If You Knew (1969) In 1969, he recorded his only album, A World of Peace Must Come, with production by Brian Wilson. It was unreleased until 2008. The Beach Boys appear on some of the tracks from the album. While under contract as an artist signed to the Beach Boys' Brother Records, Kalinich co-wrote several songs released by the group including "All I Want to Do", "Be Still", "Little Bird", as well as "A Time to Live in Dreams" with Dennis Wilson. Many Beach Boys completists are unaware of their collaborations with Kalinich and Charles Lloyd. These people are idiots.
Stephen Kalinich - The Magic Hand (1969)
Stop Smoking...Stop Over-Eating With Reveen (1978) Excerpt from this nutty record out of Canada. Peter Reveen quickly gained fame across North America with his stage shows.AKA Reveen The Impossibilist.
Supernatural Family Band - Thank You (Falettenme) (1976) "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" was a 1969 hit for Sly and the Family Stone. This is a crazy cover with young girls offering up the least soulful interpretation since Ann Margret. But somehow all the craziness works for me. I don't know. The tuba? The harmonica?
The Average Disco Band - I Want You (She So Heavy) (1976) A remnant from the Amherst Records Story show. Listen closely and you can hear a swarthy male voice intone "J'taime". Maybe some Serge Gainsbourg floating around? This song bears almost no resemblance to the Beatles version.
The B.C. & M. Choir - Stealing In The Name Of The Lord (1969) "B.C.& M." stands for "Baptist, Catholic & Methodist Choir."
The Eric Burdon Band - City Boy (1975)
The Mighty M.C.'s - Drugs, Don't Get Involved (1986)
The Minute Men - Please Keep The Beatles In England (1964)
The United States of America - Osamu's Birthday (1968) To be rerecorded by Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies the following year. In THAT version, the vocals were recorded phonetically with backward backing, then reversed. Interesting, but she was no Dorothy Moskowitz.
Bruce Haack & Miss Nelson – (Excerpt from) Dance, Sing, And Listen Again & Again!
Bill Niles and His GoodTime Band - Bric-a-Brac Man (1967)
Bill Spiller - Hot Pants Girls (1971)
Byron MacGregor - How Good You Have It In America (1974)
Carol Channing & Jimmy C. Newman - Lousiana Cajun Rock Band (1978)
Senator Sam Ervin - Bridge Over Troubled Water (1974)
Stop Smoking With Reveen Excerpt (LP)
Friday Jun 19, 2020
United States of America/Joe Byrd
Friday Jun 19, 2020
Friday Jun 19, 2020
Their name was a provocation—“a way of expressing disdain for governmental policy. It was like hanging the flag upside down,” as the group’s Dorothy Moskowitz told Terrascope. But if you were young in 1968, there was a lot going on—LSD, Vietnam, The White Album, Stockhausen—and the United States of America somehow sounded like all of it at once: a counterculture state-of-the-union address. Their debut album was the work of a group of UCLA students working under the direction of Joseph Byrd, an ethnomusicologist and former student of John Cage. Byrd, a card-carrying Communist, envisaged an avant-garde rock band with radical politics at its center, and from that combustible starting point came a suite of music that pulls in all directions. Fuzz-rock and musique concrète leaks into traditional jazz and ragtime, with Moskowitz’s beautiful but affectless voice a rare constant. By any conventional yardstick, it’s a jumble, but think of it as the musical equivalent of a Rauschenberg collage and it all makes sense.
In my life I have owned many, many albums. This is the only one I've owned three times in different iterations. I love this record. All the trouble. All the failure. All the noise.
United States of America - American Metaphysical Circus (1968)
United States of America - Garden of Earthly Delights (1968)
United States of America - I Won’t Leave My Wooden Wife For You, Sugar (1968)
United States of America - Love Song For a Dead Che (1968)
United States of America - The American Way of Love (1968)
Metaphor for an Older Man
California Good Time Music
Love Is All
After USA exploded and fell to the ground, Joe Byrd formed The Field Hippies.
Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies - Kalyani (1969)
Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies - You Can’t Ever Come Down (1969)
Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies - Nightmare Train (1969)
Phil Ochs - Crucifixion (1967)
Country Joe MacDonald - Sexist Pig (1972) Joe MacDonald's "Paris Sessions" album features Dorothy Moskowitz on keyboards and vocals. Last I checked, there were videos on YouTube of this tour.
Merry Clayton - Gimme Shelter (1970)
East of Idaho - Don’t You Want Me (1994)
Elton John - I’ve Been Loving You (1968) His debut single. Sank without a trace.
Chicago - Got To Get You Into My Life (1975)
Harry Nilsson - She’s Just Laughing At Me (1968)
Jan and Dean (with Davy Jones) - Laurel and Hardy (1967)
Jimmy “Bo” Horne - Dance Across The Floor (1978)
The Spotnicks (with Jimmy Nicol) - Husky (1964)
Klaatu - Sub-Rosa Subway (1976)
Les Humphries Singers - MacArthur Park (1975)
Ray Stevens - Age of Aquarius (1969)
Steely Dan - Dallas (1972)