Hello, this is the behind the scenes inside take on Ray Ray Raydio episode 5. Paul asked me to talk about the songs and/or why I picked them. So, I’m listening along to the show right now and I’m going to kind of say something about each one.
Ok, so we started this night off with 10 Days And 12 Nights by Royal Trux. Royal Trux, of course, are one of those bands that people either love or hate, I happen to love them. This is from their Sweet Sixteen album which I believe was their second major label release and the second album to really feature a full band. I thought this would be a great song to kick off with because it’s loud and anthemic.
I also love all things Eric Burdon. This track (Bare Back Rider) is off of his second album with War. And I think this is full of double entendres or maybe it is just about riding a horse without a saddle. The variation on the John Lee Hooker riff is always welcome in my book.
The first time I came across George Anderson was when I saw the album “Our Man In Africa” up on the collectable wall at the record store I work at. Ngosso is the last song on that record and it really hit me. Heading to the computer I found that Mr. Anderson was an African born singer-guitarist who played this kind of jazzy folk blues. This was recorded in 1963 in Paris.
The past couple of years I’ve started to really gravitate towards early to mid-60s music for some reason.
So, I was in this jazzy mood like I was sayin’ so I threw on Hog Callin’ Blues by Charles Mingus. This is off one of his Atlantic Records releases and what I’ve come to find out is that a lot of jazz on Atlantic is a little more raw and loose than jazz on labels that were bigger at the time like Columbia, Capital, and Verve. You can hear that these recordings are less uptight. A real interesting twist about this record (Oh Yeah) is that Mingus is playing piano on it and not bass!
Big Tree is a song by James “Blood” Ulmer off the album No Wave. I love the bass and the overall feel of this song. Billysteve Korpi turned me on to him a long time ago. I followed this up with Tammy Wynette’s version of Woman To Woman, the lyrics of this song are pretty amusing and if you get the chance you should look it up on YouTube and watch her 1974 performance on Pop Goes The Country. Her facial expressions are priceless. Next is Tina Turner covering Kris Kristopherson’s Help Me Make It Through The Night. Tina put out about 2 or 3 solo records which leaned towards country and folk staples. Great stuff!
Charlie Rich’s heart felt delivery on the song I Feel Like Going Home is Charlie Rich at his best. His whole catalog might not be for everyone, but this guy has many treasures to enjoy from his early rock and roll period to a smooth 70’s country balladeer.
01. INTRO
02. 10 Days 12 Nights (Royal Trux)
03. Bare Back Ride (Eric Burden & War)
04. Ngosso (George Anderson)
05. TAG
06. Hog Callin’ Blues (Charles Mingus)
07. Big Tree (James “Blood” Ulmer)
08. TAG
09. Woman To Woman (Tammy Wynette)
10. Help Me Make It Through The Night (Tina Turner)
11. I Feel Like Going Home (Charlie Rich)
January Jones is a killer song by a new band out of Austin,TX called Cactus Lee. Their whole vibe is laid back cosmic cowboy meets modern indie spirit with top notch songwriting.
I recently watched that Elvis bio on HBO and so I wanted to through something on here, Initially I was going to go with something from the 68 Comeback Special, but couldn’t quite find the right spot for that so I ended up with Puppet On A String which I don’t think is overplayed and man, is his voice smooth on it. I have also recently started to fall in love with late 50s early 60s RCA recordings, they’re just so warm and full.
Speaking of those RCA recordings Triangulo is the title track from the RCA release of Los Tres Reyes who were top in the genre that became known as trio romantico style. Another gem that I tripped over at the record store, I love this stuff it’s a mix of traditional romantic ballads, doo wop, and at the time contemporary pop.
The Harry Belafonte song, My Moon, is more of that rich RCA sound. Might not be your cup of tea, but these Belafonte records coming out after his folk/calypso breakout and before the late 60s are masterclasses of simple arrangement. His voice is front and center with light percussion, maybe one rhythmic instrument and then either a harmonica, a horn, or light strings for melodic accent.
Speaking of simple and powerful, one of my favorite songwriters from Memphis,TN is Monsieur Jeffery Evans performing here with garage super group South Filthy (members of Jack O’Fire, Oblivians, and The Fabulous Thunderbirds). Sandra Lynn’s Blues has some very clever lyrics and a dead on sound of regret and heartache. I also feel that it is kind of inspired by the old song Ballad Of A Teenage Queen.
The Beguiled were a 90s garage band that were on Crypt and Estrus Records. Their album Blue Dirge which this song, I Walk Alone, appears is just one of the best of that genre. Speaking of the best, another Austin garage super group was Total Sound Group Direct Action Committee with members from Poison 13, Tune in Tokyo, The Crack Pipes, Sugar Shack etc. This song, You’re Too Much, showcases the vocal cord ripping power of vocalist Mike Carroll.
Everybody says this is Jimi Hendrix doing Day Tripper, which it is, but it’s Curtis Knight singing not Jimi. Great version. I think I first heard this song (Just One Solution) by Lime Spiders on MTV in the 80s, part of the Australian garage or 60s rock influenced invasion of that time. Late 90s NYC garage rockers The Mooney Suzuki impressed me when I saw them at Emo’s in Austin back then, they had a little rock star attitude that was kind of lame (maybe just the singer), but the album this track Everything’s Gone Wrong comes off of was recorded in Austin at Sweatbox Studios and it’s loaded with rockers. I don’t know much about the band Outspoken Blues, but I love this lo-fi blues rocker Not Right Now. I first heard it on a Back From The Grave compilation.
12. January Jones (Cactus Lee)
13. TAG
14. Puppet On A String (Elvis Presley)
15. Triangulo (Los Tres Reyes)
16. My Moon (Harry Belafonte)
17. Sandra Lynn’s Blues (South Filthy)
18. I Walk Alone (The Beguiled)
19. TAG
20. You’re Too Much (Total Sound Group Direct Action Committee)
21. Day Tripper (Jimi Hendrix)
22. Just One Solution (Lime Spiders)
23. Everything’s Gone Wrong (The Mooney Suzuki)
24. Not Right Now (Outspoken Blues)
25. TAG
26. Sorrow (David Bowie)
27. A Little Soul (Pulp)
David Bowie’s cover album Pin Ups is one of my favorite all time records and this is just one of the amazing songs on it. Love those strings. Working at a coffee shop in the 90s it would be hard to not be exposed to Pulp. I didn’t own the record for a long time, but, man does this guy write all around amazing songs…this is A Little Soul another classic with a questionable protagonist. Better Days is from Graham Nash’s 1971 solo album and I think there is a lot of hidden gold on it. John Phillip’s song Holland Tunnel is in that same early 70s vein.
I only recently discovered Patrick Sky, which i find really weird because I’m a huge folkie and he was right in the mix in the early 60s. This is main song, Many A Mile, but an early 70s remake he did. Buffy Sainte-Marie had the big folk hit with it, but a lot of people covered it at that time. On this version I think he was trying to transition to some sort of radio friendly singer songwriter mode, probably influenced by Dylan’s output of the time. I love that it’s sloppy and laid back.
Jet’aime is a song by a band called The Narrow Escapes, I saw them play a few times to a few people at Emo’s, if anyone knows what came of these kids (they were college kids at the time) please let me know, the main songwriter wrote these amazing little bedroom pop hits…
Sandy Denny of english folk scene fame died too early, but she has a huge body of work. Amazing voice, guitar and piano playing, great songwriter. Her song You Never Wanted Me which is in this show just hits me right in the heart.
I caught Fletcher C. Johnson playing live at Hotel Vegas and I know his vocal style might turn some off, but it doesn’t bug me, he’s an excellent guitarist and his songs have great little details that make them feel real or relatable, like in this song Send Me Your Love. Austin’s The Ripe play that power pop 60’s garage jangle stuff, this song,Holiday, is one of my favorites because it reminds of Dwight Twilley.
One day hanging at Antone’s Record Shop where I work part time, legendary poster artist Jason Austin and I were looking through the new used arrivals and there was an album by this band Warm Drag and the cover art was cool, but really didn’t give you a clue what they sounded like. We put it on the store player and heard this amazing fusion of Suicide and The Cramps and more modern garage rockers, great stuff, hope you dig this song called Somplace I Shouldn’t Be.
Life On A Grid is by the “band” Useless Eaters, I think it’s really mainly one guy, a lot of contemporary garage rock is one person in a bedroom overdriving their fuzz guitars over a drum program. I saw him play live at SXSW with a band (which was it’s own thing as well) backing him up, it was great. The Ponys were part of the big early 2000s garage wave, this is from maybe their second album? Which is way more polished than their first. This song, Double Vision, has that great guitar part that really grabs me. The last song of the show is called Psychedelic and it is performed by Austin band Yellow Fever (now called Deep Time). Another great band that just springs up in this town and you get to see on some week night and watch them blossom, and it has a great lyric.
Thanks, hope you liked this, I hope to do some more down the road!
28. Better Days (Graham Nash)
29. Holland Tunnel (John Phillips)
30. TAG
31. Many A Mile (Patrick Sky)
32. Jet’aime (The Narrow Escapes)
33. You Never Wanted Me (Sandy Denny)
34. Send Me Your Love (Fletcher C. Johnson)
35. Holiday (The Ripe)
36. TAG
37. Someplace I Shouldn’t Be (Warm Drag)
38. Life On A Grid (Useless Eaters)
39. Double Vision (The Ponys)
40. Psychedelic (Yellow Fever)
41. OUTRO
42. beatnik poem excerpt from “A King Sized Drag” from the film High School Confidential.
