InternetFM.com

Hand Curated Radio

You are here: Home / Archives for Music / Experimental

Experimental

Song of the Day – “Circle Sky” by The Monkees

by

45-adapter-logo2monkeeshead

Song of the Day by Eric Berman – “Circle Sky” by The Monkees

Right from the beginning, it was always intended that The Monkees would make the jump from the small screen to the big screen. However, by 1968 when the group made their debut film Head, The Monkees’ TV show had been cancelled and they were in dire need of some credibility in the music world.

Enter film maker Bob Rafelson and an up-and-coming actor named Jack Nicholson who wrote and directed a film that made Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels look positively coherent in comparison. Head is a psychedelic mess in the first degree…but an interesting one interspersing drug-induced visuals with graphic scenes of war…and, of course, The Monkees.

The Head album had some fine songs on it sprinkled with sound collages that made it an uneven listening experience. Today’s Song of the Day by Eric Berman is one of Mike Nesmith’s finest songs which also served as the centerpiece performance of the film.

The Head album was expertly expanded into a 3 CD box set by Andrew Sandoval and Rhino Handmade several years ago…it’s not for the casual fan for sure…but if you are a Monkees obsessive it’s well worth the price of admission.

Song of the Day – “The Mercy Seat” by Johnny Cash

by

45-adapter-logo2johnnycashamericanIII

Song of the Day by Eric Berman – “The Mercy Seat” by Johnny Cash

By the year 2000 and the third album in the American series, Johnny Cash had reestablished himself as one of the greatest singers, not just in country music, but in all music. Producer, Rick Rubin, began working with him several years before and allowed Johnny Cash do what he did best in the studio…be JOHNNY CASH!

Cash began working with Rick Rubin in 1994. Rubin was the founder of Def Jam Records, and was responsible for producing seminal recordings by Public Enemy and The Beastie Boys. It must have taken quite a leap of faith for Johnny Cash to, not only work with Rick Rubin who was much younger than him, but to put his career in his hands.

When they first began working together, Cash’s career was pretty much over. He had recorded several ho-hum records for the Mercury label during the mid-to-late 1980s that were nothing special, and even resorted to re-recording some of his older hits for the label. I caught Cash in concert in a small New York City bar back in 1986 when he was touring behind the album Water from the Wells of Home. His career was so far off the mark, that the place was not even half full, although I must say that he was terrific. The performance was marred by his proclivity to allow his son and wife to take precious concert time away from the main attraction, in order for them to perform their own material.

Rubin’s whole modus operandi with Cash was to make bare guitar and voice recordings that would highlight what a great interpreter of material he was. In doing so, Rubin sent Cash tapes of songs he liked, exposing him to material he had never heard by the likes of Tom Petty, Beck, Soundgarden, U2 and Nick Cave, who wrote today’s Song of the Day by Eric Berman.

For American III: Solitary Man, Rubin assembled an all-star list of backing musicians including Norman Blake, Mike Campbell, Randy Scruggs and Marty Stuart on guitar, Tom Petty, Merle Haggard and Shreyl Crow on backing vocals and Bentmont Tench on organ. “The Mercy Seat” is probably Cash’s most harrowing recording, even more so than Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ original from their 1988 album Tender Prey.

Of the five American Recordings albums, not to mention the five CD Cash Unearthed box set with more Rubin/Cash collaborations, the American III: Solitary Man album is one of the most enjoyable on every level mainly because of its superb choice of cover songs by Tom Petty (“I Won’t Back Down”), Neil Diamond (“Solitary Man”) and U2 (“One”). Together, Cash and Rubin formulated a record that kept Johnny Cash not only relevant with the hip cognoscenti, but also true to himself as a recording artist.

And as for what Nick Cave thought about Cash’s cover, his pride oozes out of every word in the following quote… “It doesn’t matter what anyone says, Johnny Cash recorded my song.”

Song Of The Day – “Paradise Girls” by Deerhoof

by

45-adapter-logo2deerhooflaislabonita

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Paradise Girls” by Deerhoof

Their Breakup Songs was the album that topped my Best Albums list of 2012, and now Deerhoof return with their new album La Isla Bonita. (out Nov. 4)

Emanating from San Francisco (Greg Saunier, Ed Rodriguez & John Dieterich) by way of Japan (Satomi Matsuzaki), Deerhoof have released 13 albums over 20 years of unpredictable music with a sound that would have made Yoko Ono proud and John Lennon jump for joy.

It has finally come to pass that the dance ingredients of Yoko Ono’s recordings circa Double Fantasy coupled with the crunchy noise of her earlier albums which were championed by John Lennon have somewhat reached the mainstream with Deerhoof and their brand new album La Isla Bonita.

The album consists of rough tracks that were recorded in Rodriguez’s basement with the intent to send them to their producer before going into the studio. Upon playing the tracks back, the band realized that they already had the album they wanted to make.

Greg Saunier: “No one gave much thought to microphone placement and other technical matters, or playing the parts perfectly, or even staying in tune. It was unselfconscious, spontaneous and fun, all four musicians playing in the same tiny room at the same time.”

Satomi Matsuzaki later added her simplistic, repetitive lyrics and baby-doll vocals on top of the tracks solidifying the Deerhoof sound that fans have come to love.

Part electro-crunch, part sing-song melodies, part twee vocals and completely infectious in the dance rhythm department, “Paradise Girls” is a prime example of this band’s unique and irresistible sound.

Song Of The Day – “Five Years” by David Bowie

by

45-adapter-logo2 DavidBowieFiveYears

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Five Years” by David Bowie

I never get tired of this guy and he’s been a favorite of mine since the early 1970s…and look how friggin’ young he is in this clip!

Today’s Song of the Day by Eric Berman features a clip of David Bowie from 1972 appearing on the British music TV show The Old Grey Whistle Test performing the opening song from Ziggy Stardust.

I’ve been fortunate over the years to see Bowie in concert in 1976, 1978, 1980 (in The Elephant Man on Broadway), 1983, 1987, 1989 (with Tin Machine for a club show), 1994 and 2004…and he’s never disappointed!

Let’s hope with his latest bout of activity: last year’s The Next Day album, this year’s forthcoming three-disc greatest hits collection Nothing Has Changed including the newly released seven and a half minute single “Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)?” that will be released as a limited 10” vinyl single or download on the next Record Store Day (http://consequenceofsound.net/2014/10/david-bowie-releases-new-single-sue-or-in-a-season-of-crime-listen/), and talk of a now-completed new album, that there might be a tour in the offering in the not too distant future.

Song of the Day – “Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine” by Country Joe & the Fish

by

45-adapter-logo2CountryJoeMusic

Song of the Day by Eric Berman – “Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine” by Country Joe & the Fish

Today’s Song of the Day by Eric Berman is a splash of orange sunshine from the 1967 debut album by Country Joe & the Fish called Electric Music for the Mind and Body.

Country Joe McDonald, Barry “The Fish” Melton and company were already well established on their San Francisco home turf releasing several albums before their landmark appearance at Woodstock put them on the map. While many thought the band’s name was goofy, it actually carried political overtones for those in the know.

“Country Joe” was a nickname for Joseph Stalin in the 1940s while “the fish” is a reference to Mao Tse Tung’s famous statement that a true revolutionary must “swim among the people as fish.” For a time, the band considered going under the name “Country Mao & The Fish.”

While many consider the band to be just a footnote to the psychedelic era, their influence and their records still hold up today. I put this album by ol’ Country Joe & the Fish right up there with the best from Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane.

Today in Rock History – May 30

by

1964, The Beatles went to number one on the singles chart with “Love Me Do,” the group’s fourth chart topper in five months. The version released in America had Andy White playing drums while Ringo played the tambourine. The British single was a take on which Ringo played the drums.

1965, The Who performed at Mojo Club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England.

1965, The Rolling Stones played the final night of a US tour at the New York Academy of Music. During the afternoon the band recorded six songs for the Clay Pole TV show.

1966, The Beatles release “Paperback Writer” in the US.

1966, The Who appeared at Sincil Bank Football Ground, Lincoln, England.

1966, The Doors appeared at the Hullabaloo, West Hollywood, California.

1966, The Jefferson Airplane perform at a benefit for the Haight-Ashbury Legal Organization in San Francisco.

1968, Cream appeared at Eagles Auditorium in Seattle, Washington.

1968, The Beatles began recording what became known as the White Album. The double-LP whose official title was simply The Beatles became the first Beatles album released with the Apple label. The first track they recorded was “Revolution.”

1969, Pink Floyd appeared at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon, England.

1969, The Grateful Dead played at Springer’s Inn in Portland, Oregon.

1969, Led Zeppelin played the first of two nights at The Fillmore East in New York City.

1969, Neil Young & Crazy Horse performed at La Cave in Cleveland, Ohio.

1970, Frank Sinatra performed at the Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee.

1970, Ray Stevens went to number one on the singles chart with “Everything Is Beautiful.” The former DJ had a string of novelty hits, including “Guitarzan,” “The Streak,” and “Jeremiah Peabody’s Poly Unsaturated Quick Dissolving Fast Acting Pleasant Tasting Green & Purple Pill.”

1971, The Allman Brothers Band played at the State Fairgrounds Coliseum, Detroit, Michigan.

Roxy Music

1972,  Roxy Music play their first major date at Lincolnshire, England’s Great Western Express Festival.

1973, David Bowie appeared at the New Theatre Oxford, Oxford, England.

1974, Bernadette Whelan, a 14 year-old David Cassidy fan died of heart failure four days after attending a concert of his. Over 1,000 other fans had to be given first aid during the White City Stadium show.

1975, Aerosmith played at Cobo Arena, Detroit, Michigan.

1976, Rush performed at the Nelson Center, Springfield, Illinois.

1977, It’s the last chance to see Elvis play Florida as he appears tonight at Jacksonville’s Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

1978, Led Zeppelin begin recording In Through the Out Door.

1979, Yes performed at the Civic Center, Amarillo, Texas.

1980, Carl Radle, bass player with Derek and the Dominoes, died of kidney failure aged 38. Also worked with Gary Lewis & the Playboys, George Harrison, Joe Cocker, Dave Mason & Delaney and Bonnie.

1981, Pete Townshend plays a solo show at Brockwell Park in Brixton, England in support of a march against unemployment in Britain. He performs “A Little Is Enough” (twice due to bad PA mix,) “Cats In The Cupboard,” “Big Boss Man,” “Substitute,” “Corrina Corrina,” “Body Language,” “Join Together,” and “Let My Love Open The Door.” He is accompanied by Neil Abbott (guitar), Peter Hope-Evans (harmonica), Mark Brzezicki (drums) and Tony Butler (bass). Jim Capaldi comes out to do vocals for “Substitute.”

1981, ZZ Top played at the Birmingham–Jefferson Civic Center, Birmingham, Alabama.

1984, King Crimson performed at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver, Canada.

1987, David Bowie kicked off his 87-date Glass Spider world tour at the Feyenoord Stadium, Rotterdam, Holland.

1991, Morrissey played the first date on his debut Kill Uncle US concert tour at San Diego Sports Arena, California

1992, The Black Crowes went to number one on the US album chart with The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion.

2003, Record producer Mickie Most died aged 64. Member of The Most Brothers during late 50’s, and Mickie Most and the Playboys, produced hits for The Animals, Hermans Hermits, Donovan, Kim Wilde, Lulu and Jeff Beck. Most ran his own record label RAK in the 1970’s, having hits with Hot Chocolate, Suzi Quatro and Mud.

2005, Coldplay’s new album X & Y was illegally put on the internet a week before its UK and US release. The leak took place on the day copies were sent to UK radio stations, and the day before it went on sale in Japan.

2007, A leaked copy of the new White Stripes album Icky Thump was played completely on Chicago radio station WKQX 101FM. Jack White personally called the station from Spain, where he was touring, to voice his displeasure.

2009, Ozzy Osbourne was suing the band’s guitarist Tony Iommi over royalty payments. The 60-year-old had accused Iommi of falsely claiming to have sole rights to the band’s name which has cost him royalties from merchandise sales. Osbourne was seeking unspecified damages, lost profits and a declaration he is a half-owner of the trademark. Iommi claims Osbourne legally relinquished rights to the band’s name in the 1980s. Osbourne said he believed all four original members of the band should share Black Sabbath’s name equally.

2015, Jeremy Brown, guitarist for Scott Weiland and the Wildabouts, died of unknown causes at the age of 34. Brown began playing with the Stone Temple Pilots singer in 2008

Born on May 30: Lenny Davidson, The Dave Clark Five (1944); Geoffrey Lyall, aka Klaus Flouride, bass, vocals, Dead Kennedys (1949); Nicky Headon, The Clash (1955); Stephen Duffy, Duran Duran (1960); Tom Morello, Rage Against The Machine (1964);  Wynonna Judd, The Judds (1964); Thomas Callaway, aka Cee Lo Green (1974)

Get more Today in Rock History

Song Of The Day – “The Uncle Meat Variations” by The Mothers Of Invention

by

45-adapter-logo2FrankZappaUncleMeat

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “The Uncle Meat Variations” by The Mothers Of Invention

Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Dvorak…the alphabet of classical composers goes on and on…and then you come to “Z.”

May I offer “Zappa?” Yup, Frank Zappa…an artist whose music will be studied by serious composers for generations to come.

You don’t believe me? Then check out today’s Song of the Day by Eric Berman, “The Uncle Meat Variations” from Uncle Meat.

The Uncle Meat album was released in 1969 and was conceived as a soundtrack to a science fiction film that was never finished. The front cover sported the following subtitle: “Most of the music from the Mother’s movie of the same name which we haven’t got enough money to finish yet.”

A finished version of the film was released in the late 1980s bearing many of the scenes filmed for the movie and was rather incoherent. The double album was also planned as part of a suite of albums called No Commercial Potential that included the Mothers’ records Lumpy Gravy, We’re Only In It For The Money and Cruising with Reuben & the Jets.

Frank Zappa: “It’s all one album. All the material in the albums is organically related and if I had all the master tapes and I could take a razor blade and cut them apart and put it together again in a different order it still would make one piece of music you can listen to. Then I could take that razor blade and cut it apart and reassemble it a different way, and it still would make sense. I could do this twenty ways. The material is definitely related.” (Zappa: A Biography – Barry Miles)

The Mothers consisted of Frank Zappa, Ray Collins on vocals, Jimmy Carl Black on drums, Roy Estrada on bass, Don Preston on keyboards, Billy Mundi on drums, Bunk Gardner on woodwinds, Ian Underwood on keyboards, Artie Tripp on percussion and Euclid James “Motorhead” Sherwood on saxophone.

The album is one of The Mothers’ and Zappa’s finest, and I opine that it will be studied by serious musicians for years to come.

So, “Roll over Beethoven, tell Tchaikovsky the news.”

“Fuzzy dice and bongos”…indeed!

Song Of The Day – “Rhapsody In Blue” by Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra

by

paulwhitemanPaul Whiteman was one of the biggest selling artists of the 1920s, and led one of the best-loved sweet bands of all time. Sweet bands were society or café orchestras. They played music for listening and as a background for dining and conversing, as opposed to swing bands whose music was the main attraction and played specifically for dancing.

Many jazz fans frowned down on Whiteman’s sweet approach to music because he believed that Jazz music could and should be notated, rather than improvised. To that end, Whiteman wrote more than 3000 arrangements for his orchestra. Whiteman also liked to write for larger orchestras in a time when most dance bands consisted of 8-10 players.

However, no matter what the music snobs thought, he still sold more records than virtually anyone else during his time, and is well respected for his contributions to music today.

Some of his biggest records include the number one hits “Whispering,” “The Japanese Sandman,” “Wang Wang Blues,” “My Mammy,” “Hot Lips,” “Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers,” “Cherie,” “Say It With Music,” “Play That Song Of India Again,” “Do It Again,” “Three O’ Clock In The Morning” and “Linger Awhile,” and there were lots more from where these came from. However, Whiteman is probably best remembered for the commissioning and debut of today’s Song Of The Day, George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody In Blue.”

“Rhapsody In Blue” premiered on February 12, 1924 in New York at a show billed as An Experiment In Modern Music featuring George Gershwin on piano. The performance took place with John Phillip Sousa and Sergei Rachmaninoff present in the audience.

Whiteman recorded the piece twice. The original was recorded in 1924 acoustically with Gershwin playing the piano parts and released on Columbia Records. He recorded the piece a second time in 1927 electrically. That recording, released on the RCA Victor record label, was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 1974. For today’s Song Of The Day, I’ve chosen the original recording with Gershwin on piano. There is also some great footage of Whiteman and the Orchestra performing this piece from the 1930 film King Of Jazz. Whiteman’s orchestral approach to Jazz on “Rhapsody” was a big influence on Miles Davis and Gil Evans and their seminal recordings Birth Of The Cool, Porgy And Bess and Sketches Of Spain.

Some of the greatest jazz men of their day either got their start or moved through Whiteman’s orchestra including Bix Beiderbecke, Frankie Trumbauer, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Jack Teagarden, Bunny Berigan and Fletcher Henderson. Paul Robeson and Billie Holiday both sang their way through his ranks, and Whiteman also billed a singing trio with the band called The Rhythm Boys whose members included a young Bing Crosby. Whiteman also provided music for six Broadway shows and was responsible for producing more than 600 recordings.

One of the finest compilations of Whiteman’s music was released by Collector’s Choice Music back in 1998, and is still readily available today.

Song Of The Day – “Seven Come Eleven” by Charlie Christian w/ The Benny Goodman Sextet

by

charliechristianThe world of music is scattered with “what ifs,” such as “What if Waylon Jennings didn’t give his seat up to Buddy Holly on the ill-fated flight that took his life?,” or “What if John Lennon hadn’t been murdered…would there have been a Beatles reunion?”

One of the more intriguing what-ifs in my book is “What if a 25 year old guitar wiz by the name of Charlie Christian had lived a full life?” What kind of music can we have expected to come from him?

Well based on the two years of recordings he left behind with Benny Goodman, they would have been stunning to say the least. Case in point is this 1939 sextet recording with Benny Goodman on clarinet, Lionel Hampton on vibes, Fletcher Henderson on piano, Artie Bernstein on bass and Nick Fatool on drums. Listen to how tight the lead trio of clarinet, vibes and guitar are as they fly together in unison into the musical stratosphere.

What’s even more fascinating is that this recording was made during a time of uncertainty for Goodman. He had disbanded his orchestra due to medical issues a few months before. After enduring back surgery for acute sciatica (which was far more debilitating then than it is now), Goodman faced the task of putting a new band together after being out of circulation for months.

One of the first things he did was to put this sextet together with Charlie Christian, a new guitarist from Oklahoma he’d found through John Hammond. At the time, the electric guitar was not a common instrument in a big band, let alone in a sextet. Goodman took the opportunity to try something different and it paid off in spades.

Unfortunately, we’ll never really know the answer to this “what if” scenario, but at least we have the amazing recordings we do by Charlie Christian to marvel and ponder.

Note: While the YouTube video is labeled “Roast Turkey Stomp,” it is actually a 1939 live recording of “Seven Come Eleven” by Charlie Christian with The Benny Goodman Sextet.

Song Of The Day – “Jaan Pehechaan Ho” by Mohammed Rafi

by

The 2001 film Ghost World opens with the female protagonist dancing along with this scene as she watches it on TV.

The scene is originally from the 1966 Bollywood movie Gumnaam. Mohammed Rafi was one of India’s most famous playback singers, a singer whose voice is prerecorded for use in the movies. His voice graced over 70 Bollywood films including this clip.