Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic
If it weren’t for Don’t Stay Up Too Late’s thoughtful (and poetic) 100 Great Singles of the 1960s (That Haven’t Been Played to Death on Oldies Radio), I might never have learned of “Africa’s Guitar King” — Sir Victor Uwaifo — and the heavenly sounds he conjured on his 1966
I’ve always felt there to be something particularly special about the Adrian Belew composition, “1967” — the closing track on 1989’s classic album, Mr. Music Head: In recent years, with my growing awareness around the legend of 1967 as a peak year for pop music, I began to suspect 1967’s
“Surf Finger,” such an obvious candidate for the A-side of a 45, alas, was never issued on wax and seems only to have surfaced with the release of Ace’s 2006 CD anthology, Hard Workin’ Man – The Jack Nitzsche Story Volume 2: “Surf Finger“ Jack Nitzsche (1966) Video above features
Neal Hefti‘s soundtrack to the Batman TV series is top-flight 60s instrumental music — playful and imaginatively-produced. “Sewer Lady,” from the 1966 album, Batman Theme and 11 Hefti Bat Songs, was inexplicably overlooked by RCA Victor for single release: “Sewer Lady” Neal Hefti (1966) Note the fuzz bass that pushes
It is startling and sad the degree to which Jimmie Rivers is not represented in the history of recorded music. Says AllMusic — Despite his obscurity, Jimmie Rivers is one of the great western swing/bop guitarists. His legacy is miniscule, consisting of a disc’s worth of live tracks with his group,
In 1962 Capitol Records released a Roy Clark instrumental LP entitled, The Lightning Fingers of Roy Clark. Given the year of release, Roy shows amazing restraint by limiting to three the number of songs whose titles end with the word “Twist.” One obvious album highlight is Roy’s version of Hank
I would love to know exactly how Ennio Morricone instructed his vocalists to yip and mew and emit all sorts of silly sounds, as on the title track to the 1973 Sergio Leone film, Il Mio Nome è Nessuno (My Name Is Nobody): Vimeo lists musician credits for this soundtrack
Even if only for his pioneering production work with one of my guitar heroes, Duane Eddy (e.g., using a gigantic grain tank as an echo chamber), let it be known that Lee Hazlewood, while himself not a hotshot guitarist, co-wrote some of Eddy’s best tunes (including half of his excellent
Tonight I was supposed to have seen George Jones play in Lancaster, PA as part of his Farewell Tour, but unfortunately, “The Possum” departed this earthly plane on April 26th. Somehow I will have to make do with his recordings — such as this one: “I’ve Got Five Dollars And
Imagine browsing through a bunch of old records and finding a cover whose only text was a title – “Bubble Rock is Here to Stay” – and an encircled statement that whimsically declared, “There is no artiste on this album – the songs are the stars.” Only when you pull
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