Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic
Zero to 180’s sprawling history trawl “Rare & Unreleased King” made passing reference to another surf-ploitation LP issued by King Records – 1963’s Surfin’ on Wave Nine – and even threatened to make that album the focus of a future history piece … whose time has come today. Compared to Look Who’s
Unless you were a nature nerd in the late 1960s to mid-1970s, chances are you have never heard Mort Garson‘s mysterious and exotic instrumental theme for the CTV television series, Untamed World. “Untamed World Theme” Mort Garson 196? Uncanny emulation of steel drums that is/are undergirded by a
Hard to believe it was only 20 years or so ago I was having cheese coneys with The Cincinnati Enquirer‘s preeminent music writer Larry Nager and asking what it would take for the city to finally “own up” to its King Records history. Last week, to my utter delight and
Zero to 180 was browsing Lovin Spoonful‘s 7-inch releases on Discogs and decided to give a listen to an obscure 45 track, “Lonely” – a harmonica instrumental, as it turns out – only to discover upon further examination that this song was released as an A-side for the Brazilian market
No doubt about it: Jimmy Page, given his role as composer, arranger, and producer, dominates this B-side by a group you’ve never heard of (i.e., recording career = exactly one 45). This song, I am now discovering, is virtually unknown to American fans of Page’s work, as it has mainly
One can be forgiven for mistaking the heartbeat bass line and the off-kilter, syncopated hand drumming in this 2-minute heavy chant as being part of the Jamaican Nyabinghi tradition. Note the special effect at song’s end — somewhat “high tech” for King in 1954: “Oooh-Diga-Gow” by Cecil Young Quartet (1954)
Catchy King instrumental — and what is that instrument, exactly? Sounds like a blend of organ and harmonica, most likely: “New Annie Laurie” by Gene Redd (1960) [streaming audio unavailable on YouTube, sadly] “New Annie Laurie” seems an obvious attempt by King to “cash in” on the fresh organ retooling
King Records, who no doubt envied the massive success of “Tequila” by The Champs, did their level best to cash in, as Johnnie Pate‘s 1958 Federal 45 “Muskeeta” clearly demonstrates, with the flute (substituting for sax) as the lead instrument: “Muskeeta” by Johnny Pate (1958) Recorded in Chicago on March
Session guitarist Mickey (“Love Is Strange“) Baker — whose work would grace dozens of releases by King Records and its subsidiaries — ended up being allotted exactly one solo album by the label as an artist in his own right: 1963’s But Wild. Recorded in Paris in June of 1962,
The Soulful Strings evoke the magic of falling snow — thanks to Dorothy Ashby‘s harp — on their classic instrumental track, “Snowfall“: “Snowfall” by The Soulful Strings (1968) Discogs helps us appreciate how The Soulful Strings were able to create an identifiable sound despite only playing other people’s material: “The
COPYRIGHT © 2012-2022 ZERO TO 180. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Recent Comments