Thursday, February 02, 2012

Primitive Sound System, Chuck Daly and Bronco Billy Dolan at D.C.'s Tavern Thursday February 2nd from 9PM to Closing

Hello Y'all,
Ground Hog Day is one of my favorite holidays.  I love the fact that it, out of all the holidays on the calendar, truly celebrates nothing.  There are no scientific findings around Phil's abilities. He pokes his head out of his hole and then sticks it back in.  No matter what he does someone interprets it as either a short or long Winter and … Yeah… holiday over.  Considering there seems to be  an endless supply of Phils it is just as creepy as all the other holidays based on mythical characters.  This year we are going to celebrate in style, "Six More Weeks of Soul!"  OK, so it is just five hours, but it sounds better with six weeks.  It's been a while since we have done a Soul night and I am really looking forward to it.  As always be kind and rewind, tip your bartenders and above all if you drink don't drive and if you drive keep off the sidewalks.  See ya there!

- pat.

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

Thursday, February 2nd - 9PM to Closing - DOING THE GROUND HOG CHILDREN!
Bronco Billy Dolan
DJ SixMoreWeeksofWinter!  - Chuck Daly
Puxatony Sound System - The Soulful Rodent

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

Master Tattoo Artist, Sand Painter and Synchronized Swimmer - Chuck Daly: http://www.jerseycitytattoo.com

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I am bringing WAY too many records.  Some classics and some that hopefully you may not know.

Here are some Soulful 45's casting a shadow on the tables…

BT And TB - "Queen of The Ghetto"  (Philadelphia International Records cat. ZS8 3571)
I have said it all too often but I love instrumental music.  I will usually take an instrumental over a vocal track any day.  I am sad that bands don't put an instrumental track on their records or on the b-side as often as they used to.  It was really common.  Here Bobby Taylor and Thom Bell take performer credits as well as arranger and producer credits.  Is there nothing these guys can't do.  When I first picked this 7-inch up I noticed the date, 1975 and the title, "I Can't Quit Your Love" and thought this is not only the wrong date but that title says bad late 70's Soul ballad.  Nope, not even close, it was an instrumental with a clavinet running through it as the lead or voice.  The song wasn't bad and for some reason I immediately thought how incredible it would have been if  Yaphet Kotto would have played Jim Rockford on The Rockford Files.  No offense to James Garner but it would have been pretty cool.  Ever the optimist I flipped it over and was very pleasantly surprised.  This was far closer to what I was looking for and there was still that Action movie soundtrack vibe I love.    I wonder if this was ever used in a movie?  It should be.  It opens up with really big sound, lots of horns and a wah guitar jumps out accenting the beat with some really nicely recorded drums.  The song pulls back on the big sound and trims it back to the essentials, bass, drums, keys, and guitar.  The horns slowly build back up before repeating the theme which is what really gives it that sound track feel.  This is a movie I want to see.  Eddie Harris was right, "Theme In Search of a Movie" indeed.  I am not sure who the "Queen of The Ghetto" is or what her story was but I am glad i got to know her for at least  three minutes.

The Ice Man's Band - "Come Together" and "Ain't Understanding Mellow" b/w "It's Down To That" and "People Make The World Go Round (That's What Makes The World Go Round)"   (Mercury cat. MEPL-22 (Promotional Copy / Not For Sale))   
One of the first "records" I ever owned was actually a cassette.  When I say, "I owned" it is because my Dad has a great record collection and we spent most of our time going through it and studying them.  My son doesn't seem to share this same curiosity as he told me recently, "Why do you tell me about the people playing the music.  I either like it or I don't, all that other stuff is boring."  He definitely has a point.  If you aren't interested in the details it just gets in the way of listening.  I guess he will never read these emails because here I get to talk too much about the records I love.  Where was I?  Oh yeah, The Stylistics.  The Best of The Stylistics to be exact and yes I still have the cassette.  The Stylistics made a very deep impression on me, one that remains to this day.  The song that immediately stood out for me was  "People Make The World Go Round…"  I knew right from the opening that this wasn't your typical ballad.  The open chimes and bass line are peaceful but have an obvious sadness.  The opening lyrics let you know right away that there may be something wrong in your neighborhood, "Trashmen didn't get my trash today."  This is no "Betcha By Golly Wow."  The next line is even more poignant, "Buses on strike want a raise in fare; So they can help pollute the air."  Holy shit!  The thing that should keep cars off the road, hopefully gives us all more "breathing room" in our cities, helps us to get to work on time, and saves us money is also a major contributor to pollution.  Yikes, WE ARE ALL DOOMED!  They then turn their sights on Wall Street.  Wall Street blames the long hairs for them loosing money and then they turn around put up their feet and smoke a fat cigar without a care in the world.  Tomorrow they'll find someone else to blame while they get richer and richer.  Sound familiar?  Nothing changes.  But people do change and that is what the song is about.  Go underground get out of the line of fire and make changes to the way things are done and how people act.  People make the world go round and are responsible for changing the world.  Quite a task to say the least.  Over the years I have collected several versions of this song.  I have rarely found a bad version.  When I dropped the needle on the "Introducing The Ice Man's Band" LP I got chills.  These guys captured the very essence of what makes the song so great.  The environment it creates is one of being uncomfortably close, not like a hug but more like the feeling you get in a crowded elevator.  Everyone avoiding touching one another and for the most part silent.

Mickey and the Soul Generation - "Iron Leg"  (Maxwell cat. L-803)
How the hell have I never written about this record before?!  This was one of the first "Funk Instrumentals" I ever owned by an artist I had never heard of.  "Iron Leg" is basically a Jazz / Funk Instrumental and heavy as hell.  The opening of "Iron leg" sounds like a fog horn or maybe someone leaning on their car's horn in traffic.  There is a tambourine that keeps the time throughout the entire song, it is steady and in the groove.  Every instrument is in the pocket and hitting hard.  The bass is as heavy as the fog horn sound and the drums are heavy as the bass.  The only instrument that takes a subtle approach is the guitar.  You find yourself uncontrollably caught up in a mid-tempo shoulder bob and then  suddenly you are thrown against the wall when the horns burst in.  There is a brief break and the Mickey Tucker takes a solo on the organ.  This instrumental is as cool as it gets and I could play this endlessly and never get bored.

Slim Willis Band - "I Sayed That" b/w "Wine Me Up Baby"  (Reginald Records cat. (none)
Another great bass and drum intro begins "I Sayed That," with a sax that seems to be taunting them both. In the background there is a harmonica that sounds like it is laughing at the unfolding confrontation.  Mid-tempo and almost lumbering, the groove is not a studied one but make no mistake this thing has got one hell of a deep groove.  The organ is in and out of the mix almost observing the goings but to only offer some  advice or an  opinion.  Maybe the organ is reminding them not to loose the groove and keep their shit together.  These guys have let go and are just doing it, letting their instruments speak for them.  Maybe that explains the title.  On playback someone remarked after hearing their performance, "NO WAY, I SAYED THAT!"

La Bert Ellis - "Batman Theme"  (A&M Records cat. 789 (Promotional Copy / Not For Sale))
I have a lot of Batman Records.  None of them sound similar.  The Batman music genre is still a curious one to me.  Why did this one song, the theme of a tongue-in-cheek take on the Batman comic book series spawn so many truly amazing versions as well as entire LPs exploding with mind-blowing music.  I still need many Batman related records and each of those are just as unique as the ones I already own.  Some music is truly "inspired" by the batman series or others capitalizing on the success of the series but even those are exploitation of the highest order.  The funny thing is there couldn't have been tremendous profits in putting out a Batman related record unless you were actually authorized to do so.  If it wasn't authorized you would have had to pay for the right to use the theme and every one of these LPs includes the Batman logo (or a variation of) somewhere on the sleeve.  There are Garage Rock versions, Jazz versions, Rock versions, R&B and Soul versions and ones that are Funky but not necessarily Funk.  I had heard this particular version by La Bert Ellis a few times before tracking a copy down.  All the copies I know of are promotional copies which leads me to believe there may not have ever been an official release.  There is something different about this version than all the other organ based versions.  It opens with the sound of thew Batmobile like many other versions and the music begins almost in a corny fashion with some Moog or Synth effects peppering the mix but when the organ takes over things get serious.  The horns jump in line like some of the best Latin jams and about half way through the organ kicks it up a notch and the whole thing comes to a boil.  After this point there is no stopping it, I can only imagine that the full take of this version is around ten or fifteen minutes.  If I did a version of the theme I would be so torn.  I have no one favorite, each idea, arrangement and genre or style is completely valid and compliments the song perfectly.  Some of the modern takes are far less desirable but unfortunately that seems to be true of a lot of modern music (modern being anything after 1984 or so).  I'm sorry what is the purpose of auto-tuning?  I never tire of versions of the Batman theme and all the other related music and this is a prime example why.