Wild Weekend Vol. 55

Finally found the time to do another edition of Wild Weekend, so brace yourselves. Two grand ole country tracks and a new one this week, plus an instrumental reggae beauty, and we'll go out with a lenghty and pioneering krautrock blowout to soothe your ears.

First up: someone new. Meet Josh T. Pearson, bearded guy from Texas and self-proclaimed 'last of the country gentlemen'. Spent long years in European exile, writing intense songs as a kind of personal therapy. Heavy stuff, no doubt about it. Do give him a chance if you're into the likes of Townes Van Zandt, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, and Will Oldham. Remember a band called Peglegasus? I didn't either, until I found their '92 debut cd Bacon, Lettuce & Tornado in a box up in the attic. And hey, they're not at all bad if you like your indie pop all jingly jangly.

Josh T. Pearson - Woman When I´ve Raised Hell MP3

Peglegasus - Moth Man MP3

Pedal steel wizard Ralph Mooney died recently, and that's a damn shame. He played on plenty classic country songs by Wynn Stewart and Buck Owens, and later prominently backed Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings. For a fitting in memoriam, teleport yourself to the always inspiring Adios Lounge. And enjoy the immortal Under Your Spell Again by Owens here, which features 'Mister Moon' in all his glory. If seventies outlaw country from Texas is more up your alley, do head over to Singing In The Wire for an excellent mixtape featuring top notch songs by Kris Kristofferson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Townes Van Zandt and others. Terry Allen's cool ode to a Lubbock Woman didn't make the cut alas, as the compiler picked the equally fine Amarillo Highway, so I'll simply put it up here.

Buck Owens - Under Your Spell Again MP3

Terry Allen - Lubbock Woman MP3

Let's switch musical styles once more now and enjoy a pretty amazing reggae instrumental by the Crystalites. From 1970, produced by the mighty Derrick Harriott, and with a title to die for. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust... caramba!" And we've come to the end of yet another Wild Weekend extravaganza with one of the first krautrock groups known to mensch: the obscure Xhol Caravan. From '69, Raise Up High is nearly 18 minutes long and as out there as can be. Haben Sie eine Wilde, or something like that. See ya next week.

The Crystalites - Undertakers Burial MP3

Xhol Caravan - Raise Up High MP3

Colour Me Black

"Black night is falling - oh how I hate to be alone..." A pitch black, hand picked six pack for your listening pleasure. In this edition of Colour Me, Arthur Alexander's sweet vocals are accompanied by a particularly fine mouth harp, Erroll Dunkley looks all over Trenchtown for his black Cinderella, while Mick Collins and his Dirtbombs run away with a classic Phil Lynott composition. The pairing of Leroy Carter and Mississippi Sheik Walter Vinson works a bluesy treat, unless you happen to suffer from arachnophobia. Little John & the Monks, the only whiteys in this collection, offer up a strong sixties garage ballad, and the Travellers skank their way straight out of Babylon. Dig these tunes? Consider buying a few featured albums.

Arthur Alexander - Black Night MP3

Erroll Dunkley - Black Cinderella MP3

Dirtbombs - Ode To A Black Man MP3

Leroy Carter & Walter Vinson - Black Widow Spider MP3

Little John & The Monks - Black Winds MP3

Travellers - Black Black Mind MP3

A Mess Of Blues

Take five for a bit of heavy heavy Zep magic, incorporating some main Page & Plant inspirations: John Lee Hooker, Bukka White, Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup, and that white boy from Tupelo. Digging that double whammy called the BBC Sessions a lot at the moment, you see. "Whoops there goes a teardrop, rolling down my face..."

Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love (Medley) MP3

John Lee Hooker - Boogie Chillun MP3

Bukka White - Fixin' To Die Blues MP3

Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup - That's All Right MP3

Elvis Presley - A Mess Of Blues MP3

No Club

Homo homini lupus and all that. Forget the pack, shed your sheep's clothing and be a lone wolf. Presenting a solitary ten pack. Howl awhile.

Howlin' Wolf - I'm The Wolf MP3

Le Loup - We Are Gods! We Are Wolves! MP3

Los Lobos - Will The Wolf Survive? MP3

Dennis Brown - Wolves And Leopards MP3

'Funny Papa' Smith - Hungry Wolf MP3

Dawn McCarthy & Bonnie Billy - The Signifying Wolf MP3

The Grateful Dead - Dire Wolf MP3

Woodpigeon - Chorus Of Wolves MP3

Joni Mitchell - The Wolf That Lives In Lindsey MP3

Lloyd & Devon - Wolf Out Deh MP3

Colour Me White

"White honey, get it from the candyman..." Or: one more exclusive hand picked six pack. In this week's Colour Me installment, GP and the mighty Rumour talk sweet, punkpop pioneers the Dickies speed up a moody blues, while Dublin's finest the Virgin Prunes look for the promised land of milk and honey. Next up, Little Feat finds inspiration in the East, furious Frisco punks the Avengers end up on the dole, and sixties unknowns the Painted Ship tell fuzzy lies in the garage. If you like what you hear, please buy a featured album or two.

Graham Parker & The Rumour - White Honey MP3

The Dickies - Nights In White Satin MP3

Virgin Prunes - Sweethome Under White Clouds MP3

Little Feat - China White MP3

Avengers - White Nigger MP3

Painted Ship - Little White Lies MP3

Diamonds As Big As Your Shoe

Too busy to organise a Wild Weekend for you this time around, but how about some choice live diamonds from Dylan's excellent last stint in Europe? With a heartfelt thanks to the tapers of course. Zimmy's seventieth birthday is approaching fast, but that doesn't stop him from heading over to Australia and Asia soon, to play concerts in China and Vietnam amongst others. Man, I'd love to be part of that experience... Full tour dates over at Bill Pagel's legendary fansite Boblinks.

Bob Dylan - Under The Red Sky (Live Padova 15-6-2010) MP3

Bob Dylan - What Good Am I? (live Linz 12-11-2010) MP3

Bob Dylan - Forgetful Heart (live Marseille 23-6-2010) MP3

Bob Dylan - Ballad Of A Thin Man (live Parma 18-6-2010) MP3

Imagine That

And while we're on the subject of writers, why not spare some time for the existentialist charms of French Algerian author Albert Camus? Mark E. Smith named his legendary band after one of his books (La Chute), the Cure based their early classic Killing An Arab on his debut novel L'Étranger, while Magnapop mourned his tragic end in their Michael Stipe-produced Favorite Writer. "In Corsica the engines blew, your favorite writer died... in a car, in a crash, died in a fire, imagine that..." After the crash, which actually took place somewhere in Burgundy, not Corsica, Camus was found with an unused train ticket in his pocket. He had planned to travel by rail, but accepted a ride from his publisher at the last minute. Imagine that indeed.

The Fall - Prole Art Threat MP3

The Cure - Killing An Arab MP3

Magnapop - Favorite Writer MP3

Papa Shoots

"Never pull your gun until you plan to shoot." Read any Hemingway lately? You should. Plenty of magic still there, especially in the classic short stories. I've got a feeling the way underrated Eric Taylor would agree with me. "Hemingway's shotgun finally told the truth, but he never said a word about you..." Fine song, fine performance.

Eric Taylor - Hemingway's Shotgun (live in Decatur '99) MP3

Wild Weekend Vol. 54

After a bit of a hiatus, Wild Weekend comes a-callin' again. Ready for issue 53? Right on and tally ho. This weeks harvest: a gospel scorcher, a garage blast and a soul gem, amongst others. Featuring no less than three songs from vinyl sources, so the purists among you have plenty reason to be proud of me. Make it a wild one, y'all.

Let´s begin with a rather obscure bearded folkie: Gary Higgins. If you love his '73 masterpiece Red Hash like I do, you'll be pleased to find that the ever amazing Drag City label managed to unearth a couple of even earlier Higgins beauties, just released under the title of A Dream A While Back. The delicate and dark Laugh A Little is my current fave. Gospel time now, with the Crumb Brothers. A friend of mine was recently raving about their heavenly Seat In The Kingdom, and boy was he right. Holy smoke indeed. Find it on a cool vinyl-only collection called Life Is A Problem... But Where There Is Life, There Is Hope on the tiny Mississippi records.

Gary Higgins - Laugh A Little MP3

Crumb Brothers - Seat In The Kingdom MP3

Guess who recorded a Daytrotter session recently? None other than the eccentric Van Dyke Parks, who's not exactly your run of the mill, garden variety musician. Want to know why hayseeds go back to the country? Try on the lighthearted highlight The All Golden and find out. Going back to the late seventies now, when expats Patti Palladin and Judy Nylon tried making dissonant waves under the Snatch moniker in punky London. No wave avant la lettre. If you think I'm exaggerating, just try on the funky, Eno-produced R.A.F. Royal Air Force or Rote Armee Fraktion? That's for you to decide. Meanwhile, I'm clinging to my probably rather valuable vinyl copy of their sole album, which to my knowledge still has to see the light of day on cd. Someone do something about that omission, please.

Van Dyke Parks - The All Golden MP3

Snatch - R.A.F. MP3

Ready for some snotty sixties garage punk now? Then let the Caravelles satisfy you. Their wild Lovin' Just My Style can be found on the first volume of that 'mind blowing collection of boss sounds' which is the heavy heavy Boulders series. Another case of vinyl only I'm afraid. Nope, I won't sell my copy unless you make me an offer I can't refuse. And we say goodbye with a glorious piece of soul courtesy of miss Fontella Bass. Her '65 single Rescue Me gave the famous Chess label its first million seller since Chuck Berry last hit a decade or so earlier. She claimed later that she never saw much by way of royalties, and was portrayed as a troublemaker when she complained about it. Just goes to show folks... Take care, but don't forget to have a wild one.

The Caravelles - Lovin' Just My Style MP3

Fontella Bass- Rescue Me MP3

Bingo Masters

Gonna see the Bingo Trappers today. Amsterdam's finest of the lofi will perform at an exhibition in the Nieuwe Anita. Be there or be square, as they supposedly said back in the sixties, and "try to stay cool, when it's cool enough to stay here..."

Bingo Trappers - Manual For A Safe Trip MP3

The Bingos rose from the ashes of the Karabekians, who were named after a Kurt Vonnegut character, loved the Feelies and made use of a remarkably jazzy rhythm section. I always was a big fan.

Karabekians - January MP3

Busy Man

Apologies for the downtime. Been a busy man is all. No worries, things will be back to normal real soon. In the meantime, why don't you enjoy this Stooges-inspired garage blast from '77 by Jeff Conolly, also known as the Mono Man.

DMZ - Busy Man MP3