Sunday, November 28, 2010

Bronco Billy Dolan and Primitive Sound System at D.C.'s Tavern Thurs Dec 2 from 9PM to Closing

Hello Y'all,

I have spent countless hours looking through records over the years. Unfortunately due to price or condition not every record you want makes it onto your shelves. Of course this means even if you see a record you would love to bring home and listen to non stop it doesn't always come to pass. And that is what keeps collecting interesting, the thrill of the hunt. For me condition is everything and a major deciding factor to whether or not I will buy a record. If I think the condition of the vinyl will damage my needle in anyway I'd rather pass it up than risk the damage. I rarely do trades with other collectors for this exact reason and have been burned in the past. Other DJ's and collectors don't necessarily share the importance I put on condition so it is an impossible topic to get passed it when trading. The records I have passed up through the years would have made a collection equally as great as the one I enjoy on a daily basis (great because it is mine not because I think the records I own are better than the ones you have). This has meant that thousands of records that I would possibly only see that one time were placed back in a bin or put back up on a store's wall for someone less concerned with condition to have and enjoy.

About 20 years ago I became obsessed with Sonny Clark, the Jazz piano player best known for his Blue Note sessions. Along with Horace Silver and Booby Timmons, Sonny Clark is one of the players I feel is most responsible for bringing genuinely Soulful sounds to late 50's and early 60's Jazz. There were others, but to me it was obvious these musicians were combining 50's Hardbop with the current Soul sounds more than most and creating Soul-Jazz in the process. Over the years you develop an affinity with the stores (now online as well as off) that can satisfy your tastes as well as your quirks (condition being my fetish). One such store for me is the Jazz Record Center in NYC. For me walking into the Jazz Record Center is like entering a temple. This is one of the most focused collections of records for sale you will ever find and condition is everything to them so each record is meticulously graded. I have been a regular customer of the Jazz Record Center for more years than I can accurately remember (I know it was before they moved to the building on 26th Street). Every time I enter the open area where the LP's are, and before flipping through the "New Arrivals" I stare for a moment at the Sonny Clark Trio (on Time Records) LP cover that hangs from bull clips above the last row of records to the left. The cover has hung there for as long as I can remember. Sadly it is just the front cover panel of the LP's sleeve. The LP was obviously in such bad shape that not even the whole jacket was worth saving. Still, I would see it and it was a painful reminder of an LP I would never own or at least not for the price it commanded in any condition. At one point I did score a near mint stereo copy as well as a stereo copy of the Bennie Green session on Time that includes Sonny Clark on piano. But, still every time I went into the back room of the Jazz Record Center there it was, that reminder of the elusive OG Mono with the giant HIGH-FIDELITY printed along the bottom. Occasionally I would ask the owner if he had gotten a copy in and he would just smile and say, "No."

The other day we all decided we needed a day of rest. My son had a bit of a cold so we decided activity levels should be as close to zero as possible if we were going to be healthy for the upcoming Holiday season. Nothing relaxes me more than flipping through someone else's records so I figured an hour at Iris Records in Downtown Jersey City would be the best medicine. The store is housed in an old pharmacy so maybe there is something to its medicinal qualities. The always amazing little shop never fails to satisfy. After closing to the public for a few months they are back open Thursday through Saturday, cleaned up and the bins are full of new records. I went through the new arrivals and pulled out a Sandy Nelson record I don't have called "Soul Drums!" There are some really good versions of Soul covers ("I'll Go Crazy," "Groovin'" and "What'd I Say" are standouts) plus an amazing little instrumental called "Swap Beat" which isn't even listed among the featured songs on the cover since it is an original. This was an oversight on their part because it is easily one of the best tracks and how can you go wrong with a sound that is reminiscent of "Secret Agent Man." Not far behind that was Jack Costanzo's "Naked City" LP. There are no bad Jack Costanzo records, or at least I have never heard one. "Naked City" includes some fantastic Spy and Movie themes all done in Mr Bongos aggressive style. This is one of those records I wish I would have stumbled across years ago but I am just as happy to take it home today. After the new arrivals I always hit the Soul boxes and then the Jazz. There were definitely some choice gems in the Soul section and my pile began to grow. As I hit the Jazz boxes it became very obvious that all the priced bins were filled with newly found items and all were in great shape. About five records into the second box I saw the top of the "Sonny Clark Trio" Lp on Time. That cover is burned into my memory so I recognized it immediately. I know the record had been reissued a few times; the stereo copy I own, a Japanese pressing and recently, I assume, through Scorpio Records out of Trenton, New Jersey. As I pulled it from the box just the weight alone told me it was either the Japanese pressing or an original. As it cleared the other records I smiled from ear to ear. I pulled the record from the sleeve and inspected the vinyl. This was as close to NM as I was every going to get. The price… $15. MINE! Not only does flipping through records make me feel right but a find like this gives you that Christmas morning feeling when you were six. I am not exactly sure what the current value of this LP is but I know they have traded hands at over a thousand dollars.

Iris Records is located at 114 Brunswick Street, between 1st and 2nd Streets. Hours are Thursday and Friday 3-8PM and Saturday Noon-7PM. Gritzan is always seeking out record and cd collections and can be reached on 609-468-0885 or at irisrecs@gmail.com. Learn more about Iris and their upcoming Jersey City Record Riot (December 4th) at www.recordriots.com.

Since the recent acquisition of some drummer records and the loss of some fine drummers in 2010 (Ed Thigpen, (Gentleman) Albert "June" Gardner, Steve Reid (who was a regular at Finyl Vinyl), Richie Hayward of Little Feat and of course The Bedbugs (the Beatles-like band playing on the back of a wagon in an episode of F-Troop), the drummer from The Jaggerz - Jim Pugliano and Brian Damage of Misfits last show fame) I will be playing music featuring drummers drummers, some Christmas music because I figure why not and a ton of stuff I haven't gotten to spin this year.

- pat.

Primitive Sound System
VINYL RULES!
"Audio Visual Triumphs and Disasters" - http://primitivesoundsystem.blogspot.com

Bronco Billy Dolan and Primitive Sound System - "Doin' It In Your Earhole!"

Thursday, December 2nd - 9PM to Closing
D.C.'s Tavern
505 8th Street
Between Jefferson and Madison
BACK IN BACK
Hoboken, New Jersey
PH: 201-792-5550
http://www.dcstavern.com
http://myspace.com/dcstavern
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hoboken-NJ/DCs-Tavern/89733686005 <- Facebook Page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dcs-Tavern/111745052195139 <- Facebook Local Business Listing
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=27386563721 <- Facebook Group
http://foursquare.com/venue/34395 <- On Foursquare

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The Jersey City Record Riot!

Saturday, December 4th 2010
Parlay Studios
161 2nd Street
Jersey City
NOON-8PM

$3.00 admission
$20.00 early admission at 10 AM
40 plus dealers from NY/NJ/PA/CT!
Refreshments served.
Five live DJs. (I will be spinning one of these slots)

The Jazz Record Center
236 West 26th Street
Room 804
New York, NY
PH: 212-675-4480
10AM - 6PM Monday through Saturday
http://www.jazzrecordcenter.com

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CRACK:
The Sonny Clark Trio - "s/t" (Time Records Inc. cat. T / 70010)
Jack Costnzo And His Orchestra - "Naked City" (Liberty cat. LRP 3195)
Sandy Nelson - "Soul Drums" (Imperial Records (a product of Liberty Records) cat. LP-12362)

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Primitive Sound System at D.C.'s Tavern Thursday Nov 4th from 9PM to Closing

Hello Y'all,
WOOOO HOOOO! The FMU Record Fair is always a blast. For about fifteen years now I make a beeline for a dealer I like to call the The Dollar Guys. This year I went on Friday night from 7-10PM and Saturday morning from 10AM - 1PM and walked away with about 80 records. Some I needed, some I needed to get a cleaner copy of and some that are just too fun to pass up (Twisted Sister - "We're Not Going To Take It" 45 in a picture sleeve). I added two more Tony Joe White 45's to the collection and three more James Brown 45's to the already overflowing James Brown box including a copy of "King Heroin" with a picture sleeve. There were bizarro records like Welcome To Our Circle Of Friends "Tips On Service And Warranty 1975," which is a two-sided 45 explaining how to maintain your new car. Um, AWESOME! Thank you snippets Gods! And yet another moon landing related record - First Anniversary - Man On The Moon - The Log Of Man's Lunar Landing - "From Liftoff To Lunar Landing" b/w "Man Walks On The Moon" (Luna Records cat. A-11) that has some nice trippy background music. There were a couple of Hot Rod and Drinking songs and the usual stacks of Instrumental and Jazz 45's. I am definitely happy with this years haul.

This Thursday I will be back at D.C.'s Tavern and going it alone. My dear sweet Bronco Billy is once again on the left coast and I must struggle through my separation anxiety as I cue each record. Who will wildly pump their fist as I go from Duke Ellington to The Fabulous Continentals? Who will randomly shout, "YEAH!" throughout the night for me? Not the Hunter. No, he just looks at me like I am boarding the short bus with a portable record player and protective headgear. And now that Rockstar Johnny looks more like J. than J. looks like J., well that's just frightening and I am not going to try and think about it. I'll be spinning from 10PM to closing and desperately trying to figure out how I can make silly lady parts by only sticking my two hands together… see I miss Bill already. IT DOESN'T WORK WITHOUT ANOTHER PAIR OF HANDS! Please tip the Hunter so he'll stop laughing at my selections and don't even look at Johnny because I think he has started throwing people out for asking for mixed drinks.

- pat.
Primitive Sound System
VINYL RULES!
"Audio Visual Triumphs and Disasters" - http://primitivesoundsystem.blogspot.com

Primitive Sound System - Thursday November 4th - 9PM to Closing

D.C.'s Tavern
505 8th Street
Between Jefferson and Madison
BACK IN BACK
Hoboken, New Jersey
PH: 201-792-5550
http://www.dcstavern.com
http://myspace.com/dcstavern

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THE 45's:

Bad Medicine - "Animal Assistance" b/w "She's Taken All My Money" (Orbit Records cat. 45-100)
One of my favorite 45s is "Trespasser" by Bad Medicine. It is one of the most Progressive records that gets lumped in with the Funk 45 genre. Sadly it is hard to hear what was to come just a couple of years later but "Animal Assistance" (sometimes referred to as "Bulldog") is an adequate Rock track and not the raw Funk beginnings I was hoping for. There is a groove dying to push its way out but the band stays comfortably in a mid-tempo stride with horns begging to be heard in the background. It sounds like the track could have been made up on the spot and recorded after only a few run throughs. Towards the end the band does let loose a bit and the guitarist attacks the song but that is the only real excitement and it comes much too late. Don't get me wrong, this is raw and pretty damn good but knowing this is the same band that unleashed "Trespasser" onto the world it is hard to not be overly critical. Sadly the B-side looks like it was exposed to a heat source so it does not play but from what I can play it is a pretty standard attempt of a Rock band playing the Blues (read between the lines if you must). I was extremely excited to see this buried in a box of dollar records (it cost a whole $4) and I know I will play this in almost every 70's Rock set from here on out but maybe somewhere there is one more mighty 45 from the band called Bad Medicine. (BTW I resisted ALL cheap "Bad Medicine" or drug related criticisms so you should thank me.)

James Luke and the Prophets - "Night Train" b/w "Hot Pastrami" (Capital City cat. Q 50811)
I know I am not supposed to use the word retarded as an adjective by wow… James Luke and the Prophets spew out the most retard-tastic version of "Hot Pastrami" I have ever heard. I am pretty sure no one in the group knows how to play their instruments. It would appear they won a contest and first prize was to record to songs in a shed while pummeling equipment. Cavemen listen to this and scream, "THAT'S PRIMITIVE!" The vocalist did learn the very complicated lyrics to Hot Pastrami so the engineer pushed the faders way up. Good thing the singer had just ate shards of glass otherwise he may have been unbearable to listen to. Is it possible for a song under three minutes to sound like it has gone on too long? YEAH, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah…. The A-side of this completely amazing 7-inch is a version of the oft cover never to be destroyed so beautifully, "Night Train." Here the "band" (for lack of a better word), actually have the nerve to count in this wreck. 1-2-3-4… now every go in completely different directions. If a train leaves Greater Harrisburg Pennsylvania for parts unknown on several different tracks will we ever arrive at any logical destination? At one point it sounds like everyone but the drummer and guitarist get derailed. About hallway through the guitarist actually develops chops and luckily the drummer never does anything but crush the snare drum into the floor with his manic one-two beat. In the distance we do hear the organ weeping crawling from the wreck. Perfect. This one moves immediately to the favorite 7-inches of All Time box. Thank you James Luke, and of course thank you The Prophets for you have truly been touched and delivered your divine message to us.

Jackie Edwards & Soulmaker's (sic) (Arranged J. Venable, Producer J. Shelton Jr.) - "The Vamp" b/w "Let Me Love You" (Daran Record Co. cat. D-0108)
I have written about Mr. Edwards previously. His amazing track "Che Che" is where Soul genuinely meets Jazz. Like a meeting of the Stax and Black Jazz record labels. "The Vamp" is similar but this time instead of the subtle smoothness of "Che Che" here Mr. Edwards and band sound like Wes Montgomery fronting a young New Funk band. The beats and organ are really raw but the guitar work is elegant and aggressive all at once. As before, I can only assume Mr. Edwards is the guitarist since this track (like "Che Che") features the fantastic guitar playing way out front. The guitar is not disconnected from the other players but it is featured in the mix quite favorably. I love the loose snare head sound, which gives it a slight amateur or Garage feel regardless of the drummer’s obvious skills. The organ also has a Garage sound to it that adds to the New (Modern) Funk Band sound. I could see this coming out on a label like Tramp and raising the discussion if it was a new track or old. "Let Me Love You'" is the ultimate Lounge track. If this isn't Murph and the Magictones I don't know what is. "Thanks folks, please stick around for our next set, and remember…"Don't You Go Changin'." *hiccup…*

Bill Parker - "Gonna Put My Foot Down" b/w "I Waited In The Rain" (Anla Records cat. AN1-125)
I probably paid a little too much for this but man I had to have it. I love Electric Blues and have never heard this before and that saddened me. So I did what any well-respected vinyl junkie would do with 20 bucks clenched in his (or her) hand… I laid my money down and hug this little gem and gave it a new home. Bill Parker sings his lines about one eighth of the speed of the tempo. I assume it is Mr. Parker also playing guitar, which he plays like a man possessed. The drums and rhythm guitar are beautifully simple but the lead is wildly fuzzy and raw. Electric, in every sense of the word. I never stuck a paper clip into an outlet but I assume this is the sound you make. The guitar screams and accentuates every slow, deep voiced threat Mr. Parker makes and he makes it very, very slowly, "P U T M Y F O O T D O W N…" When the track opens the intro cannot prepare you for how sparse and matter of fact the vocals are going to be. Weirdly they are not distracting, actually I found myself anxiously waiting for what he would say next, "Never will be the same old me….” It is like he is reading haiku but is distracted by his own wild playing. Let's just be happy they didn't do enough takes for him to be able to play and sing at the same time because to me this is a flawless take.

Cannonball Adderley - "Soul Zodiac" Narrated by Rick Holmes The Nat Adderley Sextet - Pisces" b/w "Virgo" (Capitol cat. P-3410 (Not For Sale / Promotional Record))
So I am born in February and that makes me a Pisces. I ONLY picked this up because I thought it would be funny. Despite Cannonball Adderley and David Axelrod being two of my favorites who worked together brilliantly many many times I have NEVER been able to make through this whole LP. In the words of Peter Griffin, "It insists upon you." I probably will not play this record out ever but it will make great mixed tape fodder. I know nothing of Astrology and everything everyone has every told me makes me think it is no better than any other organized religion. It does have an element of science to it so maybe it can be in the sequel to this book this guy gave me called "Dioretix: The Science of Matter over Mind." My favorite thing about the record is that barely anything they say about Pisces is true about myself or anyone else I know born in February. I can only imagine that ever sign has elements of personality traits that can apply to everyone. Eww, let me guess your age while I am at it. I will say that Rick Holmes has a voice that just flows and moves like water over the spacey backing.

Bobby Peterson Quintet - "The Hunch" b/w "Love You Pretty Baby" (V-Tone Records cat. 205)
OK, so this is everything I look for in an instrumental. The intro has some nicely beating drums and the other players build up around his groove. The bass is nice and heavy matching the intensity and focus of the beat. The sax bursts onto the scene and takes center stage honking, blasting and soloing from beginning to the end. The piano does a nice job of keeping things balanced and even gets to take a solo without disrupting the beat. I can hear bongos in the back and it would have been nice to hear them up in the mix but all in all this one great track. Piano / Sax instrumentals are as good as Guitar or Organ instrumentals but they always seem to have an older feel. Since this sounds like it is from the late 50's possibly the very early 60's it can be said that Piano / Sax instrumentals are the Godfathers of Organ Instrumentals.

Fabulous Continentals - "Undertow" b/w "Return To Me" (C B Records cat. 5003)
Nothing is better than an instrumental and Surf Instrumentals rarely disappoint. The Fabulous Continentals know the game and they play it straight. Surf beat, plunky - plinky guitar and weird breaks dropped in, in an attempt to make each song "sound" different. Oh yeah, the obligatory "Cha-Cha-Cha ending. Done. You guys are…FABULOUS! Check it out, "Return To Me" follows the same pattern and even grabs the "My Bonnie" riff like it was "Shortnin' Bread" or something. Two for two, you kids are all right.

David Rose - "The Blowup" b/w "Theme From Hombre" (Capitol Records cat. P 5837 (Promotion Record / Not For Sale))
Another great David Axelrod production. Isn't David Rose the guy who did "The Stripper?" This track sounds like it could have been the theme song for a love story starring The Munsters. Fuzzed up guitar and pounding drums are layered with strings, horns and a flute. The whole thing sways gently while also stomping forward like a hulking figure pushing on in a storm and high winds. I couldn't find any info about a movie that this was recorded for and I know it was not part of the Antonioni film by the same name. The inclusion of Jack Nitzsche makes it even more intriguing. Intrigue and curiosity make this one of the better Spy themes that never was or hopefully I'll find out was and there are more great tracks. In the mean time enjoy the mystery.

THE LONE LP:

Lightnin' Rod - "Hustler's Convention" (United Artists Records / Douglas Collection cat. UA-LA156-F)
About a year ago I picked up a few copies of Sir Charles Hughes' "Your Love Sho Nuff Dynamite" 7-inches. I have not been able to stop playing it ever since. The song was used as the running theme in the movie Black Dynamite and honestly they could not have found a more perfect song. A friend, DJ and collector who goes by the name Monk-One tipped me off to the song so I made sure he got a copy from my short stack. I do trade records occasionally but I prefer buying. Trades never seem to work out well for me. At the FMU record fair I usually get to catch up with people I haven't seen in a while. Some who I only get to talk to through the Internet. Robbie Busch is an artist, writer, DJ and collector that I obviously have a few things in common with. I stopped to talk to him and realized if there was anyone who would like a copy it would be him. Although he did already have the Sir Charles Hughes' LP (OK this guy has some crazy rare records) he did need a copy of the 7-inch so I went through his sale box. That was one of the deepest boxes of 45's I have looked through in a while. Rare record after rare record and at really good prices… but far too rich for my blood (I had just spent two days digging the Dollar Guys bins so I was tapped). I then flipped his LP's and stumbled upon one of the cleanest copies of "Hustler's Convention" I have ever seen AND it has the insert. My copy was a non-gate edition from the 80's and I am not sure why I never went looking for an original but I had not. We made a deal and there couldn't be a more perfect trade for the theme for Black Dynamite. Hustler's Convention is always a regular play while I am working in my studio and somehow the OG sounds even better. Thanks Robbie!