TUNE OF THE MOMENT: "HARLEM SHUFFLE" by THE MAZE (1967)

I always loved this groovy cover! This track will get you movin', baby!!

TUNE OF THE MOMENT: THE PERSUASIONS "I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)"

This is my favorite a capella track ever, a cover of The Temptations tune "I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)" performed by The Persuasions. At least I think it's The Persuasions. The track is taken from the LP compilation "Dangerous Doo Wop volume 2" released in the 1990s. But unfortunately there is no information whatsoever about this recording. The Persuasions did a version of this tune on their 1972 Capitol Records LP "Street Corner Symphony". But this version seems to have been recorded in the 1960s.

UPDATE: Check out the comments below for some information courtesy of Julie Lawson, wife of lead singer Jerry Lawson!

TUNE OF THE MOMENT: YETI

Yes, it's "Yeti", the end title track from Sante Maria Romitelli's score to the immortal 1977 Italian movie Yeti: The Giant of the 21st Century!



The track was also release as a 45 (pictured above) that was credited to The Yetians! Dig some of the lyrics:

The Yeti's big
The Yeti's tough
But he's so good

He is so big
The Man of stone
But he won't harm you
The Yeti
He is so tough
The man of stone
But he won't kill you
The Yeti

I ask you: does it get much better than that? Me thinks not. And, for maximum effect, while you are listening, feel free to stare deeply at this picture of the Yeti:


The movie Yeti: The Giant of the 21st Century is available on DVD-R from Trash Palace (if you must). You have been warned!

TUNE OF THE MOMENT: "DISCO DUCK" EN FRANÇAIS

Some of you may remember, or have at least heard of, "Disco Duck", that annoying hit record from the 1970s that combined the worst of both worlds: Disco music and an intelligible cartoon duck voice. Well now, for my French friends (all 3 of them), I am proud to present this "lost" (???) novelty single by Paul Vincent. A French language cover version of "Disco Duck". Bonne courage!

Certains d'entre vous souvenez mai, ou avoir au moins entendu parler de "Disco Duck", ce dossier a frappé ennuyeux des années 1970 qui combine le pire des deux mondes: la musique disco et une voix intelligible cartoon canard. Eh bien maintenant, pour mes amis français (tous les 3 d'entre eux), je suis fier de présenter ce "perdu" (???) seule nouveauté par Paul Vincent. Une langue françaises couvrent version de "Disco Duck". Bonne courage!

TUNE OF THE MOMENT: "NEEDLE CHILL" by SEXY SADIE

In 1996 Date Bait, one of the 2 bands I was in at the time, performed at the Chiller Theatre convention in New Jersey. 2 of the guests that weekend were director Jess Franco and his actress wife Lina Romay. I was already a big fan of theirs but this was the time that I first actually got to meet them. Also performing that weekend were the bands Killer Barbies and Sexy Sadie. Not long after that, as I started getting involved with Jess Franco via the Brooklyn based One Shot Productions, I was sent some different CDs by various Spanish bands whom at that time were on the Spanish indie label Subterfuge Records. Subterfuge had released the soundtrack for Franco's "Killer Barbies" movie on CD and LP and eventually would go on to release the "Tender Flesh" soundtrack on CD. "Killer Barbies", Franco's horror-punk film starring the female-lead Ramones-esque band of the same name, also included music by Sexy Sadie. At the time, I hadn't paid much attention to Sexy Sadie's 2 tracks on the "Killer Barbies" soundtrack, I just sort of wrote them off as an okay Nirvana clone. In fact the night we had performed with them I was doubling over from the flu and didn't really know what was going on so pretty much I didn't remember what they sounded like. But later, the more I listened to the 2 full length CDs they had out at the time, the more they grew on me and I could tell they really had their own special thing going on and were not a copycat band at all. By their second CD the band was finding it's own sound even more than it's debut. But it was their third full-lengther, the 1998 release "It's Beautiful, it's Love", that really knocked me out. Overall they had adopted a more pop sound although with some very heavy bursts of distorted guitar mixed in. The general tone of the songs is what I would term "bitter-sweet", quite beautiful indeed but with a strong sad undercurrent.

Those couple of years, late 1996 to early 2000, was a great time for me as I was just getting more and more involved with One Shot Productions and Franco and everything just kind of melded together wonderfully. Discovering the old Jess Franco movies as they'd start to turn up more and more on VHS, the '60s and '70s soundtracks being released on CD, these groups and the other new bands from Spain I had never heard before, getting to travel to Spain to start working with Jess... the music, the movies... everything just really came together in a kind of groovy synchronicity. And this particular Sexy Sadie CD is one of the releases that really brings all that back for me.

Sexy Sadie released several other CDs later on, some singles, a live DVD and several hits / rarities collections. It seems they became rather quite popular in Spain before eventually breaking up in 2006. But outside of Spain, and certainly in the USA, it seems as though not many people have heard of them. Apparently at some point between their second CD and this one a member of the group reportedly suffered a heroin overdose and, from what I heard, pretty much had to learn to speak again. The band continued on without him and so I have always imagined that the song "Needle Chill", from this CD, was possibly written about the unfortunate guy although I could be totally wrong about that. Sexy Sadie, like a lot of the Spanish bands on Subterfuge, sing in a kind of broken English that is quite endearing. (Certainly their English is a LOT better than my Spanish though!) This track is one of the faster tunes on the CD, which is not to suggest that the other tracks are any less intense. In fact "It's Beautiful..." is such an overall solid release, there is not 1 weak song on it. So give a listen and discover a new old group that the US seems to have criminally ignored.


LINKS:
Sexy Sadie's MySpace Page is at http://www.myspace.com/translatesexysadie
Subterfuge Records website is at http://www.subterfuge.com/

TUNE OF THE MOMENT: "WITCH-A-MA-JIG SONG" by SMILIN' ED MCCONNELL AND HIS BUSTER BROWN GANG

Back in the 1940s Capitol records released an entertaining series of 10-inch 78 rpm records for kids. Some were singles with one song or skit on each side while others were released in booked sets of 3 records. When I was a kid I inherited a few of these from my parents including a nifty 3 record set featuring Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig (in Africa!) and their pals. They were all expertly voiced by Mel Blanc with an amazing orchestrated score and sound effects. They really put a lot of work into these "kids" records and I was lucky my parents gave this to me along with a few others. One Capitol kids' 78 I did not receive was "The Witch-A-Ma-Jig Song" recorded by Smilin' Ed McConnell and his Buster Brown Gang. If they had given me this record I probably would've had nightmares for weeks. Smilin' Ed was a radio personality who, amongst other things, had a kids program that reportedly ran from 1944 to 1953 that was sponsored by Buster Brown Shoes. One of his characters was Froggy the Gremlin whom you may have heard of. There's something truly demonic sounding about Froggy's grumbly throat-cancer-esque voice that gives me the willies! In any case, Ed, Froggy and the whole gang eventually ended up with a television series that was later run by Andy Devine. Somewhere along the way the catch phrase "Pluck my magic twanger" was born. As for the record, it speaks for itself.

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TUNE OF THE MOMENT: "DOUBLE BUBBLE BATH" by THE JOE RENÉ COMPLEX

Our first tune is a poppy little instrumental ditty, presumably from 1969 or 1970, the full title of which reads "Double Bubble Bath (Music To Read Page 311 By)". It's taken from a way-cool LP called "Music To Read The Pretenders By" by The Joe René Complex on the Philips label. The entire album is a thoroughly good listen if you are into groovy pop music. Another standout track, a funky number called "Rank Out", has shown up on a few other blogs, so I present to you this bouncy more easy-going but just as cool number. Laden with rich horn harmonies, there is a slightly complex middle part that reminds me of some of Frank Zappa's jazzier instrumental works. I dunno what (or who) was going down on page 311, but someone was having a swingin' time! Overall "Music..." is an interesting concept LP, a sort of fake soundtrack for the racy novel that was rather popular at the time. I myself have never read "The Pretenders" but after seeing some of the other song titles on this LP ("Menage A Tois", "Mirror On A Mexican Ceiling") I may have to track it down!

Joe RenéAccording to the liner notes Joe René was born in Holland in 1924 and was a trumpet player and band arranger but was forced to go into hiding as his career was "interrupted by Mr. A. Hitler"! After the war he became a musical director for the US Army. In 1948 he came to the US and went into arranging and producing big bands for radio, tv and recording. If soundtrack-esque pop music circa the late '60s is your thang, track down a copy of this swinging LP and snag it! Mr. René, you cool cat you, I hereby give you and this record the official Trash Palace 'Groovy Factor' seal of approval! Alright.... now click it and dig it!

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