Masterpiece: Solid Air

[Today: The late, great John Martyn...]

Scottish musician John Martyn passed away yesterday in Kilkenny, Ireland at age 60. Between his 1968 debut London Conversation and 1977′s One World, he travelled the musical path from straight-ahead folk to echoplexed guitar workouts couched in a world music sensibility. His music incorporated elements of folk, funk, soul, blues, jazz and Celtic music, and all of these angles are captured beautifully on 1973′s Solid Air, an album pitched midway between the musician that Martyn was, and the musical explorer he would become.

From the album’s first notes, bassist Danny Thompson’s contribution to the overall atmosphere is obvious. He and Martyn play with a simpatico that borders on telepathy, lighting up a string of great tunes. ‘May You Never’ and ‘I Don’t Want To Know’ are the kind of lovely, lilting folk that got Martyn signed to Island Records as a teenager in the late 60′s. ‘Over The Hill’ is a dark sentiment wrapped in a sweet melody that will have you humming along before you realize what you’re humming about – in other words, quintessential Martyn. Meanwhile, his cover of Skip James’ ‘I’d Rather Be The Devil’ is a demented, echoplexed nightmare that heralds the course his music would take in the second half of the 70′s.

Martyn wrote the title track about his troubled friend Nick Drake, who would overdose on anti-depressants in November of 1974. It’s a gorgeous song that fulfills both sides of the thorny musical equation known as jazz-rock. Many reviewers have grappled with the metaphor behind the title of the album, but this is a body of work that eludes such critical grasping. With nine songs that clock in at a little under 35 minutes, Solid Air is a cool ocean breeze.

Listen: Over The Hill

Listen: Solid Air

Listen: May You Never

Buried Treasure: Then Play On

[Today: The sound of the original Fleetwood Mac...]

Before they became the multi-platinum purveyors of Rumours and Tusk, Fleetwood Mac was a very different kind of band. In the late-60′s they were fronted by ace blues-rock guitarist Peter Green, and their sound during that period reflects his influence – an influence strong enough that they were commonly known as Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac for a spell. Besides the name, the only thing the 60′s and 70′s versions of the group had in common was the rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood (drums) and John McVie (bass).

Released in 1969, Then Play On was the fourth album by the original incarnation of the band. Green, McVie and Fleetwood split from John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers in 1967, and over the course of a few albums, they subtly shifted away from the heavily blues-ified rock that they were weened on. The addition of second guitarist Danny Kirwan just prior to sessions for this album provided another layer to their sound, and gave Green a worthy sparring partner on guitar. Then Play On is a guitar album through and through, featuring extended, interlocking suites of music that touch on Flamenco, but are rooted in a lean, spare version of the blues.

Unlike its colorful, psychedelic cover art, this music conjures images of barren vistas, desert sands and smoldering heat. ‘Oh Well’, the 9-minute centerpiece of the album, starts out as a straight-ahead riff-rocker before veering into a long passage that sounds like it was pulled from the Ennio Morricone songbook. ‘Coming Your Way’ features lilting guitars over driving percussion, while Green Kirwan sings a lyric that’s half innuendo, half threat. Like much of the rest of the album, the song detours into a strange, dream-like middle passage – making Then Play On the soundtrack for a psychedelic spaghetti western that has yet to be made.

This LP was a Top 5 (UK) hit and broke the group in America, but as Peter Green’s last album with Fleetwood Mac, it represented the end of an era for the group. Burned out by too many drugs, Green retreated from the spotlight, and didn’t make any music for a full decade. Meanwhile, Fleetwood Mac was selling millions of records and becoming icons of the 70′s. But Then Play On represents the artistic high point for both the band and their one-time guitarist.

Listen: Oh Well

Listen: Coming Your Way

Crossroads: The Life And Afterlife Of Blues Legend Robert Johnson

Blues legend Robert Johnson lived a short life shrouded in shadow and mystery. Rumor of the day had it that he sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his sudden musical prowess, and that he was fatally poisoned by a jealous husband in 1938 at age 27. Johnson left behind just 41 recordings of 29 different songs, but his influence on modern music stands in inverse proportion to his limited discography. He was a favorite of British Blues-Rock guitartists of the 60′s – including Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, and Peter Green – and through them his effect on music continues to the present day.

Crossroads: The Life And Afterlife Of Blues Legend Robert Johnson is a compact little book (114 pages) dedicated to setting straight the limited record of Johnson’s life. The book tackles all manner of myths and tall tales, but there are two significant legends that author Tom Graves very thoroughly but simply explains away:

1] Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads in exchange for musical glory – Graves charts the case of mistaken identity behind this defining rumor about the great bluesman. This fable was invented about Tommy Johnson, but got stuck to Robert on accident (the Coen brothers got this detail right in their movie O’ Brother Where Art Thou? when they put Tommy – not Robert – at the crossroads). Graves locates the original quote about the deal with the devil at the crossroads (by Tommy Johnson’s brother) and just like that, unravels one of the biggest legends in the history of music.

2] Robert Johnson was poisoned by a jealous husband - Graves pretty logically points out that the details of eyewitness reports of Johnson’s last hours are inconsistent with the symptoms of fatal poisoning. A more likely cause of death – bad rotgut moonshine liquor – lacks the drama of of the jealous husband angle, but squares with descriptions of Johnson’s death. Of course, Graves adds a layer back onto this mystery when he astutely points out that although a dozen or so people have claimed to be at Robert Johnson’s bedside when he died, not one of them reported any other persons present.

Graves tells his story in a straightforward manner, and smartly concentrates on the key points that this book adds (or more to the point, subtracts) from the myth of Robert Johnson. His claim that the 1986 movie Crossroads (starring Karate Kid‘s Ralph Macchio) “…may have done more to introduce the world to the legend of Robert Johnson than the cover versions of Johnson’s songs recorded by Eric Clapton and The Rolling Stones” is a mighty stretch, but the rest of this book shines a welcome light into the shadowy corners of Johnson’s short life.

Listen: Love In Vain Blues

Listen: Terraplane Blues

Doubleshot Tuesday: You Better Run/Chulahoma

[Today: The ragged blues of Junior Kimbrough...]

David ‘Junior’ Kimbrough spent most of his career playing the blues in juke joints around Mississippi, including his own – Junior’s Place – in Chulahoma, MS. Kimbrough recorded a couple of singles during the 60′s, but remained a local phenomenon until he was discovered by journalist Robert Palmer in the early 90′s. Kimbrough’s apperance in Palmer’s documentary film Deep Blues led to a recording contract with Fat Possum Records (motto: We’re Trying Our Best). His style of blues features droning guitar and rough & tumble lyrics, always recorded live. It’s gritty music that has drawn a host of disciples, including Mark Lanegan, Cat Power, Spiritualized, Iggy Pop, and The Black Keys. Kimbrough claimed to have fathered 36 children during his lifetime, but his musical offspring are even more numerous.

The Black Keys in particular were so influenced by Kimbrough that parts of You Better Run: The Essential Junior Kimbrough sound like outtakes from their albums. In 2006 they released an EP of nothing but Kimbrough covers, appropriately titled Chulahoma. Within the liner notes, Keys’ guitarist Dan Auerbach described the effect Kimbrough’s music had on him in college: “Very suddenly, I was skipping class to play guitar. Shortly thereafter I’d be dropping out of college altogether. Setting out to find my own way. The bar had been set impossibly high and there was nothing more those professors could help me with. I’d found a new teacher.”

Indeed, the tough, stripped-down blues of Junior Kimbrough are mirrored by the tough, stripped-down blues of The Black Keys, and to listen to You Better Run followed by Chulahoma is to hear the blues being passed from one generation to the next. Kimbrough died in 1998 at age 67, and his tombstone reads “The Beginning And End Of All Music.” But in his deep influence on a two-piece blues band from Akron, OH, Kimbrough has given the lie to his own bold grave marker.

Listen: Sad Days Lonely Nights [Junior Kimbrough]

Listen: My Mind Is Ramblin’ [The Black Keys]

Listen: Most Things Haven’t Worked Out [Junior Kimbrough]

Listen: Meet Me In The City [The Black Keys]

Weekend Playlist

Here’s some of what we heard during the weekend that was…

J.K. & Co. _ Suddenly One Summer

Esther Phillips _ Home Is Where The Hatred Is: The Kudu Years 1971-1977

Neil Young & Crazy Horse _ Sleeps With Angels

Grandmaster Flash _ The Official Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash

Gomez _ In Our Gun

Deltron 3030 _ Deltron 3030

Gorillaz _ Demon Days

Nitin Sawhney _ Prophesy

The Stooges _ Heavy Liquid

Various Artists _ Even More Dazed & Confused

Various Artists _ Children Of Nuggets

Various Artists _ Latin Funk Flavas

Various Artists _ Brothers On The Slide: The Story Of UK Funk

Stevie Ray Vaughan _ The Boxed Set

David Crosby _ If I Could Only Remember My Name

Steve Miller Band _ King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents The Steve Miller Band

Skip James _ Hard Time Killing Floor Blues

Bob Marley & The Wailers _ Exodus

Sweet _ Desolation Boulevard

Tosca _ J.A.C.

Kings Of Leon _ Aha Shake Heartbreak

Michelle Shocked _ Captain Swing

Fred Neil _ The Sky Is Falling: The Complete Live Recordings 1963-1971

The 20 Greatest Soundtracks Of All-Time – The Cover Art

Here’s the cover art for my latest mix – The 20 Greatest Soundtracks Of All-Time. The image below was NOT photoshopped or digitally contrived* – it was shot on December 5, 2008 at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland, CA. A huge thanks to photographers Ronny Knight and Mark Adams, who brought the image to life. No suprise there, as these are the same guys who shot the Hip-Hop Sgt Pepper’s cover for me, among other photos.

I also have to thank the proprietors of the Grand Lake Theater. I imagined the scene for this cover taking place on their marquee, and frankly no other theater would have done. For the last several years, theater owner Alan Michaan has dedicated one of his marquees to messages regarding the state of the political world, repeatedly calling out Bush and Cheney for their evil misdeeds (you can see the entire set of politically-oriented marquees here). These marquees helped keep me sane during the darkest hours of the Bush administration. My thanks to Mr Michaan and Audrey Marr for coordinating their people on my behalf. Special thanks also to the Grand Lake Theater’s Sam O’Dell (on ladder) and Jeremy Kearney (holding ladder) for being cooperative and good-natured enough to hold the pose below for several takes over a two hour span on a cold December evening.

Because my favorite movie director is Alfred Hitchcock, I decided to make a cameo appearance in this album cover. That’s me holding the sign to the left of the gatefold (*the lettering on which is the only thing manipulated in this picture) and not cutting nearly as interesting a profile as Hitch. My jowls need some work…

Ronny and Mark provided dozens of photos that would have worked perfectly for this cover, but I ended up using only three of them. I’ve included some of the outtakes beneath the track listing below.

Thanks again to everyone who was involved in making this happen…

Here’s the front gatefold:

Here’s the inside gatefold:

[read the complete liner notes here]

Here’s the back inside:

Here’s the back:

Here’s the track listing:

Creation * Making Time (from the movie Rushmore)
Bobby Freeman * Do You Wanna Dance (American Graffiti)
Prince & The Revolution * Let’s Go Crazy (Purple Rain)
Jimmy Cliff * The Harder They Come (The Harder They Come)
The Soggy Bottom Boys * I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow (O’ Brother Where Art Thou?)
Air * Playground Love (Virgin Suicides)
Curtis Mayfield * Superfly (Superfly)
Circle Jerks * When The Shit Hits The Fan (Repo Man)
Grandmaster Caz * South Bronx Subway Rap (Wild Style)
Alice In Chains * Would? (Singles)
The Bee Gees * Stayin’ Alive (Saturday Night Fever)
The Band * It Makes No Difference (The Last Waltz)
Joy Division * Love Will Tear Us Apart (24 Hour Party People)
Ben Charest * Belleville Rendez-Vous (The Triplets Of Belleville)
Rose Royce * I Wanna Get Next To You (Car Wash)
Talking Heads * Sax And Violins (Until The End Of The World)
Jerry Garcia * Love Scene Improvisations (Version 1) (Zabriskie Point)
David Boeddinghaus & Craig Ventresco * Harlem Strut (Crumb)
Rufus Thomas * Do The Funky Chicken (Wattstax)
Richie Havens * Freedom (Woodstock)

And here are some photo outtakes:

Masterpiece: The Message

[Today: Flash is fast, Flash is cool...]

Before he became an innovative, world-famous DJ, Grandmaster Flash was just an 18-year old kid named Joseph Saddler who lived in the South Bronx of the mid-70′s. Young Flash was inspired by both a local block party DJ named Kool Herc – who looped the breakbeats off of funk albums by alternating between two copies of any given record – and the mid-town disco DJs who were seamlessly matching beats to connect songs on the fly. Combining the theory of what Herc was doing with the technical mixing skill of a disco DJ, Flash invented a new way of creating music.

His brilliance wasn’t appreciated all at once. Flash literally went home in tears after his first live audience refused to dance to this strange new music made completely from snippets of other albums. But by the time he joined forces with the Furious Five – a collection of some of the best MCs of the day – in 1977, he was a local star on the rise. MCs Melle Mel, Cowboy, Scorpio (aka Mr. Ness), Raheem, and Kid Creole were nearly as groundbreaking as Flash himself. Cowboy in particular is responsible for so many of the pat phrases that litter the history of hip hop (“Hip hip hop and you don’t stop…” etc) that his heirs ought to receive daily five-figure royalty checks in perpetuity.

Flash & Co turned down the chance to become the first rap artists to record an album – an honor that instead went to the built-for-the-occasion Sugarhill Gang. After dropping a few singles, they released the full-length LP The Message in 1982. It’s a curious record – the first six songs provide a raucous yet relaxed vibe that’s a veritable time capsule of the block party roots of the genre. But the title track closes out the album with a seven-minute roadmap to everything that Hip-Hop would become. By drawing from the scenery around them, the group created a gritty, autobiographical sound that would alter the course of rap music.

In early 1981, pop group Blondie released the song ‘Rapture’, which quickly climbed to #1. During her rap within the tune, Debbie Harry name-checks Flash (“Flash is fast, Flash is cool”), but neither that boost nor the success of ‘The Message’ could prevent Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five from breaking up in 1983. In 2007, they became the first Hip-Hop act elected to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame – pioneers once again.

Listen: The Message

Buried Treasure: That’s The Joint

[Today: Hip-hop from a bygone era...]

During the dawn of Hip-Hop in the South Bronx of the late-70′s, rapping and scratching was just a way to pass the time and have fun, and wasn’t remotely seen as a commercial enterprise. The idea of making a rap record seemed like nothing more than a silly fantasy, and even after the surprise success of The Sugarhill Gang single ‘Rapper’s Delight’, many within the rap community viewed the music business suspiciously. Afrika Bambaataa explains that “When we started seeing the recordings, a lot of us in the Zulu Nation stayed away from that at first because people thought once it got into vinyl it was going to kill the culture.”

By the time many of rap’s originators warmed up to the idea of recording, the moment had passed them by and some key figures – including the original DJ, Kool Herc – were never captured on tape. Founded in 1977, Funky 4+1 included five stellar MCs: Lil’ Rodney Cee, KK Rockwell, Jazzy Jeff,* Keith Keith, and Sha-Rock. The group never released a full-length LP, but they were still fairly prolific by the standards of the day. Between 1979 and 1983, they recorded 7 songs, all of which are contained on the 2001 compilation That’s The Joint.

Sha-Rock (aka Sharon Green) was the first female MC, but she was no gimmick. These five voices work together in a show of musical teamwork rarely heard in modern Hip-Hop. Indeed, much of That’s The Joint sounds delightfully dated, including the simple rhyme schemes, unbridled enthusiasm, and lengthy running times. Every track here clocks in at nearly six minutes, while the title track goes 10 minutes and ‘Rapping And Rocking The House’ checks in at a whopping 13 minutes. This is music that was made to conquer a restless crowd, rather than the Billboard charts.

They may not have enjoyed chart success, but their chemistry and charisma were enough to earn Funky 4+1 the first live appearance by a rap group on a national TV broadcast. When they played Saturday Night Live in 1981, they gave America a glimpse of the future. Since then, they’ve been regularly sampled by artists looking to capture some of their old-school flavor – most notably by the Beastie Boys on their classic album Paul’s Boutique – but nothing beats the real thing.

Listen: That’s The Joint

Listen: Rapping And Rocking The House

*[Not to be confused with the DJ who worked with The Fresh Prince.]

Doubleshot Tuesday: It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back/Straight Outta Compton

[Today: Who's the man?...]

Barack Obama was inaugurated earlier today as the 44th President Of The United States. It’s a great moment in the history of this country, but the music geek in me can’t help but wonder if this amazing triumph of hope is the death knell for a certain strain of Hip-Hop music. After all, if you’re Chuck D, Ice Cube or any other of the legion of angry rappers out there, what do you do when the man is suddenly your man?

This quandry isn’t limited to just rappers. Democrats have spent the last eight years hurling F-bombs at the commander-in-chief, while becoming conditioned to cringe at his every inane utterance. But with Obama in the White House, there are no longer any evil scapegoats or easy excuses. Whether you’re a Democrat or a wicked MC, this moment represents a fundamental change in your relationship to the government.

On the militant track ‘Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos’, Chuck D growls “Picture me givin’ a damn I said never/Here is a land that never gave a damn/About a brother like me and myself.” Yesterday that proclamation sounded like a bold statement – today it sounds like a postcard from the past.

Obama got to the heart of this matter with one sentence in his inaugural speech today: “What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them – that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.” One can only wonder if the rising tide of history will leave hip-hop’s militants all washed up.

Listen: Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos [Public Enemy]

Listen: Straight Outta Compton [N.W.A.]

If 80′s Were 00′s – The Cover Art

Before George W. Bush’s reckless reign of idiocy, the 80′s were the last decade that the United States was treated to a two-term Republican President. Like Ronnie Reagan before him, W had an obvious disdain for the constitution and the environment. Reagan and W were both misguided ideologists and make-believe cowboys itching for war, and both ran up record deficits during their time in the White House.

This mix is the sequel to my smash hit compilation If 70′s Were 00′s. It’s my fervent hope that, beginning tomorrow, both of these mixes become quaint relics from the horrible, utterly forgettable Bush years.

And just for me, can someone let the White House door hit W & Dick Cheney in the ass on their way out? Thank you…

[here's the front cover...]

[here's the inside front cover...]

[here's the inside back...]

[quote reads: "I am not worried about the deficit. It's big enough to take care of itself." - Ronald Reagan]

[here's the back...]

*****

[and here's the track listing...]

1] Pink Floyd – Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert
2] XTC – Generals & Majors
3] Sigue Sigue Sputnik – Love Missile F1-11
4] Fear – Let’s Have A War
5] Billy Squier – The Stroke
6] Bob Dylan – Political World
7] The Police – Bombs Away
8] Talking Heads – Road To Nowhere
9] The Cure – Killing An Arab
10] U2 – Bullet The Blue Sky
11] INXS – Guns In The Sky
12] Prince & The Revolution – America
13] Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Two Tribes
14] Dead Kennedys – Kill The Poor
15] Pixies – Wave Of Mutilation
16] Circle Jerks – When The Shit Hits The Fan
17] Neil Young – Rockin’ In The Free World
18] Minutemen – Viet Nam
19] The Clash – Know Your Rights
20] Public Enemy – Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos
21] Love & Rockets – Ball Of Confusion
22] Front 242 – Welcome To Paradise (v1.0)