Some Rays

"Good morning, sunshine, you're all around my head,
Good morning, sunshine, I'm ready to be led..."

Or: I'm off for two weeks to catch some much-needed rays.

¡Hasta luego/see you later!

Big Star - Watch The Sunrise MP3

Relatively Clean Rivers - Hello Sunshine MP3

Margo Guryan - Sun MP3

Peter Hammill - Sunshine MP3

The Halo Bit - When The Sun Hits Me MP3

Bob Mould - Sunspots MP3

The Pogues - The Sunny Side Of The Street MP3

Bunny Gale - In The Burning Sun MP3

Rip Rig & Panic - Shadows Only There Because Of The Sun MP3

The Outsiders - Sun's Going Down MP3

Voodoo Working?

"You wanna hear my long snake moan..." A hissing, slithering six pack for your listening pleasure. "Is my voodoo working?" Buy my snake oil please.

PJ Harvey - Long Snake Moan MP3

Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band - Black Snake Moan II MP3

Townes Van Zandt - Snake Song MP3

The Walkabouts - Snake Mountain Blues MP3

Little Feat - Snakes On Everything MP3

R.L. Burnside - Snake Drive MP3

1-2-3-4

You can never listen to enough Ramones, especially from the early days. So without further ado, here are da brudders with a couple of live tracks from the bootleg vaults, recorded at The Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on 12 May 1976. Rough but great. Take it away, Dee Dee.

Ramones - Havana Affair MP3

Ramones - Listen To My Heart MP3

Ramones - Baby Sitter MP3

Ramones - Oh Oh I Love Her So MP3

Wild Weekend Vol. 66

It's another Wild Weekend, edition 66 to be precise. A six pack filled with soul, jazzy tropicália, brand new garage rock, rocksteady, and flamenco. And a rather rare Dylan cover by Steve Wynn's Dream Syndicate. Wild scenes inside the goldmine then so.

I'd like to start this issue with a birthday song, as the missus celebrated hers a couple days ago. Many happy returns, my dear. Especially for you, here's Kathy Young, with a soulful lament from 1961, so way before you were even born. A while back, I wrote something in these pages about that great Brazilian piece of tropicália called Cravo E Canela as performed originally by Milton Nascimento, which was succesfully covered later by the combination of Bonnie Prince Billy and Tortoise. And I promised you all another version, by Dom Um Romão, the famous jazz drummer from Rio, to promptly forget all about it. But since it's never too late, here you go. It's called Cinnamon Flower now... check out that wicked guitar, amigos.

Kathy Young & The Innocents - Happy Birthday Blues MP3

Dom Um Romão - Cinnamon Flower MP3

Exciting new sounds alert: presenting Pet Scenes, from Limehouse, London. Their three track debut ep Funk is out now, filled to the brim with intense garage rock & roll. Have these guys been worshiping at the shrine of the holy Birthday Party? Have a bleedin' guess, mate. Meanwhile, we continue with a classic cut by Derrick Morgan, rocksteady producer supreme. In the period between ska and reggae, Morgan just knew he was the ruler, always the ruler. Find it, together with many more of his killer productions, on a boss Pressure Sounds compilation called Red Bumb Ball, Rare And Unreleased Rocksteady '66-'68.

Pet Scenes - Dell Sez MP3

Derrick Morgan - I'm The Ruler MP3

Here's some more classic flamenco I picked up while visiting my beloved Barcelona recently. Singer José Salazar Molina (1924-1977), better known as Porrinas De Badajoz, was no gypsy, but he sure sounded like one. Dude, that's one hotblooded song. And we go out with a question. Ever wondered what would happen if the Dream Syndicate covered Dylan's majestic eighties masterpiece Blind Willie McTell? Here's your chance. "Power and greed and corruptible seed..." Not bad, huh? Not bad at all. Have a wild one!

Porrinas De Badajoz - Vengo De Mi Extremadura MP3

The Dream Syndicate - Blind Willie McTell MP3

Wandering Stars

"Do you know where you belong? And is your star sign ever wrong?"

Presenting a stellar ten pack to wish upon.

Teenage Fanclub - Star Sign MP3

Portishead - Wandering Star MP3

Billy Bragg & Wilco - California Stars MP3

Thinking Fellers Local Union 282 - Star Trek MP3

Roky Erickson - Starry Eyes MP3

Echo & The Bunnymen - Stars Are Stars MP3

Gordon Jackson - My Ship. My Star MP3

Mountain Goats - New Star Song MP3

Tall Dwarfs - Starry Eyed & Wooly Brained MP3

Sun Ra - Twin Stars Of Thence MP3

Buzz Awhile

Slim Harpo (1924 -1970) was the man alright. A Louisiana swamp blues king if ever there was one, he never worked full-time as a musician. The trucking business was probably a safer bet. Nevertheless, many of his songs have long since become immortal, and were covered by the Stones, the Yardbirds, Them, and Alex Chilton amongst many others. His old friend and admirer Robert Pete Williams, a legendary bluesman in his own right, paid the 'original King Bee' an impressive tribute on the heartfelt Goodbye Slim Harpo. "Goodbye poor Slim, I see you again..."

Slim Harpo - I'm A King Bee MP3

Slim Harpo - Shake Your Hips MP3

Slim Harpo - Te Ni Nee Ni Nu MP3

Slim Harpo - Tip On In, Part 1 MP3

The Rolling Stones - Shake Your Hips MP3

Alex Chilton - Tee Ni Nee Ni Noo/Tip On In MP3

Robert Pete Williams - Goodbye Slim Harpo MP3

Wild Weekend Vol. 65

Wild Weekend is back with issue 65, and all is well with the world. Business as usual then so. Some hippy dippy folk, some wild garage rock, some classic flamenco, some outtake Bob. Let the games begin, and have a wild one.

Let's get the show on the road with Peter Perrett's Only Ones, an old fave from hazy postpunk days. I played my vinyl copy of their dark '79 masterpiece Even Serpents Shine so often its grooves were all but worn out, so last week I finally invested in the cd reissue. Good move that, as it came with three bonus tracks, of which I dig This Ain't All (It's Made To Be) the most. Any lovers of pretty, pastoral folk around? Good, because Drag City continues its excellent reissue program with Love Has Made Me Stronger, a forgotten '76 gem by Carol Kleyn. Makes you wonder if co-harpist Joanna Newsom has the original stashed away somewhere... Be sure to pick this one up, and don't forget to check out her interesting life story here.

The Only Ones - This Ain't All (It's Made To Be) MP3

Carol Kleyn - Blackbird MP3

Lofi singer/songwriter supreme Simon Joyner has been running a cool subscription-only record club for a while now called Grapefruit, and their brandnew release Turd Goes Back: Essential Tracks from Secret Secret Sourpuss & Big Tussie contains early recordings of Lambchop's Kurt Wagner. Check out a sample of the album below and sign yourself up why don't you. And speaking of turds: it's high time we played you some raw sixties garage rock once again. "I went to see a wise man, to ask him how to be..." That's one Rabbit MacKay, with a furious track from a masterful, sadly out of print compilation called Turds On A Bum Ride. If it ever pops up on eBay, do yourself a favour and place a high bid.

Lambchop - Came Home Late MP3

Rabbit MacKay - Tendency To Be Free MP3

Picked up a truckload of flamenco for next to nothing while in sunny Catalunya last week. One good score was a definitive compilation of Manolo Caracol (1909-1973), a gypsy from Seville who has been called, and I kid you not, 'the Caruso of the caves' and even 'the Brahms of flamenco'. Great singer, not to be missed. And I'm kissing you goodbye with a delightful Dylan outtake. Got to admit it kinda got lost initially amongst all the treasure found on Tell Tale Signs, installment number eight in the Bootleg Series. It was only last week that I realised this version is superior in all respects to the one released on Modern Times, with an understated arrangement and vocals to die for. "When I heard you was cold I bought you a coat and a hat, I think you may have forgotten about that..."

Manolo Caracol - No Quiero Na Contigo MP3

Bob Dylan - Someday Baby (outtake version) MP3