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All posts for the month January, 2015

Iron Leg Radio Show Episode #45

Posted by funky16corners on January 25, 2015
Posted in: 45s, acoustic, Baroque, Beatles-esque Sounds, Canadian Music, Country Pop, cover versions, Culture, Curt Boettcher, folk rock, freakbeat, garage punk, Iron Leg, Iron Leg Radio Show, Laurel Canyon, Music, pop, psychedelia, Sunshine Pop. 2 Comments

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Beep beep beep beep…..

Playlist

Alan Hawkshaw/Keith Mansfield – Action Scene (KPM)
The Move – Fire Brigade (A&M)
The Move – Walk Upon the Water (A&M)
The Move – Flowers In the Rain (A&M)
The Move – Here We Go Round the Lemon Tree (A&M)
Tom Northcott – Blackberry Way (UNI)
The Fortunes – Fire Brigade (UA)

Jennifer – Close Another Door (Parrot)
Jennifer – Sunny Day Blue (Parrot)
Jennifer – Chelsea Morning (Parrot)
Jennifer – I Am Waiting (Parrot)
Jennifer – Places Everyone (Parrot) Fargo
Jennifer – The Park (Parrot)
Jennifer – Saturday Night at the World (Parrot)
Jennifer – Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues (Parrot)

Jennifer Warren – PF Sloan (Reprise)
Jennifer Warren – Empty Bottles (Reprise)
Jennifer Warren – Sand and Foam (Reprise)
Jennifer Warren – Be My Friend (Reprise)
Jennifer Warren – These Days (Reprise)
Jennifer Warren – Magdelene My Regal Zonophone (Reprise)

Hoyt Axton – Double Double Dare (VeeJay)
Hoyt Axton – I’ll Be There (VeeJay)
Peddlers – Song For the Blues (Philips)
Peddlers – Whatever Happened to the Good Times (Philips)
Lee Mallory – Take My Hand (Valiant)
Lee Mallory – The Love Song (Valiant)
Summer Snow- Flying On the Ground (Capitol)
Summer Snow – Your Thoughts Have Wings (Capitol)
Velvet Underground – Jesus (MGM)
Velvet Underground – I’m Set Free (MGM)
Velvet Underground – I’m Beginning To See the Light (MGM)

Listen/Download -Iron Leg Radio Show Episode #45 – 203MB/256kbps

 

NOTE: There were some problems with sound  dropping out in this edition of the podcast. I reassembled the file from scratch and remixed it. The link above should work fine. If it doesn’t, please let me know.

Thanks – Larry

 

Greetings all.

Welcome to this month’s episode (#45) of the Iron Leg Radio Show.

Thanks completely to aforementioned health issues, this episode comes to you a little late, yet no less groovy.

There are all kinds of goodies this time out, especially two sets of very interesting, little-heard early work by the vocalist Jennifer Warnes.

I hope you dig it.

See you next week.

Peace

Larry

 

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PS Head over to Funky16Corners

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RIP Trevor Ward Davies (Dozy, of DDDBM&T)

Posted by funky16corners on January 18, 2015
Posted in: 45s, Au Go Go, British Beat, Culture, freakbeat, Iron Leg, Obituary, Uncategorized. 1 Comment

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Dave Dee and the rest of the gang…

 

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LISTEN/DOWNLOAD – Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich – He’s a Raver – MP3</b>

Greetings all.

As I have been unexpectedly in the hospital for most of the last week, my work schedule has taken a hit. I have a new Iron Leg Radio Show ready to go but it hasnt’t been tagged or uploaded and I can’t get it from here, so hopefully next week.

That said, while I was sitting here staring at the walls I noticed a link that the man that played one of my favorite bass lines, on one of my favorite records had passed away.

The record: ‘He’s a Raver’ by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky , Mick and Tich

The bassist: Trevor Ward-Davies

Davies, whose heavy bass was a big part of the group’s sound  passed away at the age of 70 last week.

I thought it might be nice to send him off this way.

So dig the rave up, raise a glass to Dozy, and with any luck I’ll be back here next week.

Peace

Larry

————————————————

Originally posted 2010

I hope you’re all well, since I’m sitting here with what feels like a migraine headache.
Fortunately it’s fairly quiet here, so I figured I’d get some blogging in before I try to nap the pain away.
The tune I bring you today is something that I have coveted for a long, LONG time, and only just scored a copy (at a nice price, natch) in the last month.
I’ve been a big fan of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich (known henceforth as DDDBM&T) since I first heard their music about 25 years ago. There was a point at about that time where I scored almost all of their cool 45s at various discount prices (I’m not sure anything of theirs, aside from oddball foreign issues, is actually ‘rare’), but the tune I bring you today eluded me.
Now, there are those that will tell you that DDDBM&T had probably the worst name in 60s pop, but even the briefest survey will reveal that although it is quite akward, their name is surpassed in pure stupidity by any number of US-based hippie bands.
DDDBM&T are one of those rare groups who were clearly being sold to their audience as teen-dream, bubblegum, candy-floss, yet managed to transcend those labels.
They were handled, and provided with much of their material (most of their hits) by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley (who also worked their magic with the Herd), and though much of their catalog could be labeled formulaic, it was a good formula, matching razor sharp pop hooks with an aggressive, Freakbeaty vibe that got them 14 Top 40 hits in the UK (and almost as many in Germany and New Zealand) between 1965 and 1970.
This is not to say that they didn’t have their lame moments, but their best stuff is not to me missed.
The tune I bring you today, ‘He’s a Raver’ is in my opinion the best thing they ever did, a freakbeat masterpiece and interestingly enough, penned by the band.
It was the b-side to the much less interesting ‘Okay’ in 1967 and was a Top 10 hit in the UK and Germany (thus the Star Club issue of the 45).
‘He’s a Raver’ sounds like the intersection of the pilled-up Mod sound and the frilly-cuffed Carnaby Street vibe of ’67.
The lyrics, concerning a wealthy scenemaker who ‘lives in a castle in the country’ and ‘buys the finest clothes’ who’s hair is so long ‘people stop and stare’.
It’s propelled by heavy guitar, throbbing bass (that sounds about twice as loud as anything else on the track) and a very groovy organ break halfway through the tune.
I can just imagine the crowd at the Tiles (no doubt including several people who fit the description from the song) losing their shit when this came over the speakers.
I know I do and I hope you do too.
Psyche out baby!

 

 

Peace

Larry

 

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PS Head over to Funky16Corners too!

The Jordan Brothers – Gimme Some Lovin’

Posted by funky16corners on January 11, 2015
Posted in: 45s, cover versions, Culture, garage punk, Iron Leg, Rock. 1 Comment

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The Jordan Brothers

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Listen/Download – The Jordan Brothers – Gimme Some Lovin’

Greetings all.

I know that today’s post makes for two British invasion covers in a row, but sometimes that’s just how it works out.

Fittingly, I first heard of the Jordan Brothers version of ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ while looking for information on another early version of a bigger hit (probably one of Evie Sands many near-misses). I had never heard of the group, and the idea that they had beaten the Spencer Davis Group onto the charts in the US (with their own song) was intriguing, so I set off in search of my own copy.

Fortunately this was neither difficult nor expensive, and in no time at all I was grooving to the Jordan Brothers take on the song.

The Jordan Brothers were (unsurprisingly) brothers, though the amount of actual brothers in the band apparently changed over the course of their career.

Based out of Frackville, Pennsylvania, the Jordans released a string of 45s for a variety of labels (having a minor hit in 1960 with ‘Things I Didn’t Say’) through the 1960s and 1970s.

Their record company got their hands on a tape of the Spencer Davis Group original – already a hit in the UK – and the recorded their own, slightly garagier/less soulful version of the song and released it in the November of 1966, scoring a decent regional hit with it in a number of East Coast markets.

The Spencer Davis Group version would hit the US charts in December of 1966, competing with the Jordan Brothers version, but eventually scoring a much bigger, more widespread hit (which is why you know who Steve Winwood is, but probably never heard of the Jordan Brothers).

This was the only substantial chart appearance for the Jordan Brothers, who would continue releasing music into the 1970s.

I hope you dig the track, and I’ll see you next week.

Peace

Larry

 

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PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

The Mojo Men – Off the Hook

Posted by funky16corners on January 4, 2015
Posted in: 45s, Buffalo Springfield, cover versions, Culture, garage punk, Rock. 1 Comment

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The Mojo Men

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Listen/Download – The Mojo Men – Off the Hook

Greetings all.

One of the great joys of digging for new music is finding the unexpected. I have long since given up digging in the field with a portable turntable, because to be frank, it’s kind of a pain in the ass.

I’d rather apply a mixture of what I already know, with a dose of intuition, in the hopes that when I return home and drop the needle on the record, the results will be satisfactory.

The record you see before you today is the result of just that kind of digging.

I always stop when I pick up a 45 on the storied Autumn label (San Fran beat, folk rock and even soul), and I linger when the song in question is an interesting cover.

The Mojo Men were already on my radar via their 1966 cover of the Buffalo Springfield’s ‘Sit Down I Think I Love You’, which was a Top 40 hit and later included on the original Lenny Kaye compiled ‘Nuggets’ set.

That single, an ornately poppy number would never suggest to me that the group in question had something like the 45 you see before you today up their musical sleeve.

As it turns out, they sort of didn’t.

Allow me to ‘splain.

The original Mojo Men were an all-male quartet that migrated from Florida to the Bay Area in 1964. Not long after their arrival they hooked up with one Sylvester Stewart (known to his friend as Sly) and recorded some demo material with him in the group. Apparently unsatisfied with the results, Sly left the group bit continued to champion them, bringing them to Autumn Records where he was a house producer.

This version of the Mojo Men recorded a few 45s in 1965, the first of which was a cover of the Rolling Stones ‘Off The Hook’, which had first appeared on ‘Rolling Stones Now!’ earlier that same year.

The Mojo Men do a serviceable rendering of the tune, moving in an early-garage direction, which is missing some of the loose-limbed swagger of the OG but still delivers.

The 45’s flipside ‘Dance With Me’ made it into the Top 100, but the following year drummer Dennis DeCarr would leave the group, to be replaced by Jan Errico, late of the Vejtables (and apparently related somehow – either sister or cousin – to Sly and the Family Stone drummer Greg Errico).

It was with Errico that they would have their biggest hit with ‘Sit Down I Think I Love You’, and continued to record through the end of the decade.

Sundazed has done a couple of different comps on the band, though some of them seem to be out of print.

I hope you dig the track, and I’ll see you all next week.

Peace

Larry

 

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PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.