Heavy Dialogue

With Eddie Hazel perhaps? Seems to me that our favourite Swedes are seriously trying to invoke the ghost of the late great Funkadelic guitarist here. Just take that trip.

Kungens Män - Tung Dialog

Want some prime Eddie, too? Thought as much. Here goes.

Eddie Hazel - So Goes The Story

All The Time

Holiday break starts... today! Sorry folks, just can't stay. No worries, I'll leave you with a good old six pack of fine fine tunes, with steady artwork as usual by Tinca. Back before you know it, my amigos da musica.

Johnny Daye - Stay Baby Stay
The Impressions - Stay Close To Me
Funkadelic - I'll Stay
Dennis Brown - Stay At Home
The Rockets - Won't You Say You Stay
Spiritualized - Stay With Me

A Day Late

And a dollar short, as they say. "But it was soon patent to every observing mind that the ways of wealth were not the ways of honor..." Indeed. Presenting a greedy six pack + for your listening pleasure, my amigos da musica.

Wynn Stewart - Another Day, Another Dollar
David Wiffen - You'll Never Make A Dollar That Way (Mexico)
The Stained Glass - Dollar Sign Friends
The Mekons - $1,000 Wedding
Funkadelic - Funky Dollar Bill
Ka - $

Bonus track:
Johnny Dollar - Action Packed

Hit The Band

Just got the sad news that keyboard master Bernie Worrell has left us. The highly influential Wizard of Woo, best known as a key member of George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic gang but also a de facto member of Talking Heads in the eighties, was 72. Miss him.

Parliament - Mothership Connection (Star Child)

Stop press: just heard that Winfield Scott Moore III, better known as Scotty Moore, passed away yesterday. The guitar great, best known for his revolutionary work with Elvis during the early years of the Memphis Flash and especially on the legendary Sun Sessions, was 84. Miss him, too.

Elvis Presley - You're A Heartbreaker

Wild Weekend Vol. 28

A lot of soulful, funky stuff this Wild Weekend , as the ghost in the iPod picked another musical six pack out of the air once again. Featuring the Impromptu Horns, Farmer John´s lovely daughter and much, much more.

We´ll start off in Jamaica, with the great U Roy as your ace from outer space. Say what? One of the first toasters in reggae history, Ewart Beckford wasn´t called the originator for nothing. Ride that riddim, my brethren. Soultime now, with the underrated dynamic duo of Don & Dewey. All their songs for the Specialty label (try the exemplary Jungle Hop compilation) sound like bona fide hits, though they only got that status after getting the cover treatment by others. Did you know they also penned the later garage classic Farmer John? All together now: "Farmer John, I´m in love with your daughter..."

U Roy - Your Ace From Outer Space MP3

Don & Dewey - Farmer John MP3

And here comes a bit of da funk again, featuring the incredible Eddie Hazel, he of Funkadelic fame. Maggot Brain anyone? Here Eddie transforms a well known Lennon/McCartney tune into an amazing guitar epic you definitely don´t want to miss. It starts out a little tame, but catches fire soon enough. Find it on his ´73 solo outing Game Dames And Guitar Thangs. Heavy indeed, brother Ed. Which is swiftly followed by Vetiver, one of the best bands of the freakfolk movement in my book. Join them in their quest for Amour Fou, also known as Crazy Love.

Eddie Hazel - I Want You (She´s So Heavy) MP3

Vetiver - Amour Fou MP3

New discovery up next. Pearly Gate Music is a project of one Sach Tillman from Seattle, whose older brother plays drums for the Fleet Foxes. Tillman junior takes a more lofi approach though, and often sounds like he´s been raised on outtakes from the Big Pink Basement. His eponymous debut is out now on the Barsuk label: check it out I´d say. And here´s the last song in the pack already, from those legendary Austin punk pioneers the Big Boys. They take the funky route, featuring their Impromptu Horns, which is of course big fun.

Pearly Gate Music - Daddy Wrote you Letters MP3

Big Boys - We Got Soul MP3

More Maggots

Thanks to reader Big Steve, here´s yet another version of the Maggot Brain monster. This steaming live take stems from a bonus ep that came with the original vinyl of One Nation Under A Groove. And that´s Eddie Hazel´s successor Mike Hampton pouring it all out on guitar. "It ain´t illegal yet..."

Funkadelic - Maggot Brain (live) MP3

And if you want even more, check out a great live video of Funkadelic - featuring both Hazel and Hampton! - playing Maggot Brain in Landover, MD in ´83 here.

Go On Maggot Brain

"Mother Earth is pregnant for the third time

For y'all have knocked her up...
I have tasted the maggots in the mind of the universe
I was not offended
For I knew I had to rise above it all
Or drown in my own shit...."

An amazing piece of music. Legend has is the band had taken acid before the recording started, but that´s not all. Funkadelic mastermind George Clinton famously asked guitarist Eddie Hazel to play at first as if he had just heard that his mother had died, and then as if he had heard she was in fact still alive. Hazel obliges with gusto, trying to out-Hendrix our Jimi with a cosmic six string symphony of epic proportions. Mother earth dies screaming, while Hazel´s guitar weeps and weeps.

The moment he realises his mom didn´t perish after all is quite hard to determine, but it could be roughly around the 6.50 mark, when after a quieter spell the pace picks up again and the guitar soon starts soaring anew. And that would be the same moment, in Funkadelic myth, where an ordinary maggot has become a maggot brain, meaning it´s able to rise above all the bullshit in the world...

To start off an album with a track like this, risking to alienate an audience looking for da funk, takes guts.

"Come on Maggot Brain...
Go on Maggot Brain..."

Fear not though, funkateers. Apart from the title track, the Maggot Brain monster (´71) means funk with a big P. Just check out the ultra-catchy Can You Get To That for proof.

And last but not least, there´s an alternate take of Maggot Brain doing the rounds, found as a bonus track on the cd reissue. Clinton mixed the band way low in the mix on the final master, but on this version the band is far more audible, which makes for a much mellower listening experience. Nice, but I´ll take the naked truth any time.

Funkadelic - Maggot Brain MP3

Funkadelic - Can You Get To That MP3

Funkadelic - Maggot Brain (alt. mix) MP3

Papa´s got a brand new grab bag

It´s Friday yet again, pop kids... That´s right, time sure does fly. Here´s another grab bag for you. Which songs made an impression on me this week? Got a varied diet for you this time, old and new, black and white, you name it, I´ve got it... We´re gonna get funky with the one and only brother James and with the mighty Funkadelic, and explore some new stuff with The Box Social and Frontier Ruckus. Then there´s the return of my beloved Dead Moon as Pierced Arrows, and two versions of a junkie lament. Get down and enjoy.

Let´s start tonight with James Brown and his Funky Drummer. Some people say it´s the single most sampled recording ever. Recorded in ´69, released in ´70 on two sides of a single (no 12" singles back then yet), but it still sounds like it was recorded yesterday. Man, this is very very funky. It´s not just the drummer though, check out that organ too. And them horns... "You don't have to do no soloing, brother, just keep what you got... don't turn it loose, 'cause it's a mother." Amen, brother James.

James Brown - Funky Drummer MP3

Let´s stay in funk territory for a while, with the echoing weirdness of a classic Funkadelic track. That George Clinton sure was way ahead of his time. We´re talking P-funk here, with that P standing either for pure, for Clinton´s hometown of Plainfield, New Jersey or for Parliament/Funkadelic. The experts are still divided here, you see. Incredible guitar solo near the end. The whole album, also called Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow (Westbound ´70), is an amazing aural trip you definitely need to take. "The kingdom of heaven is within". Amen to that too.

Funkadelic - Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow MP3

Fred and Toody Cole must be the coolest couple in rock ´n´roll. The uncompromising sound and intense live shows of Dead Moon have always been dear to my heart. Check out the utterly essential Sub Pop compilation Echoes Of The Past to see what I´m on about. Last year´s news that the band had ceased to exist was a blow. Apparently they fell out with drummer Andrew Loomis after years and years of continuous touring and lots of great records. But fortunately they couldn´t stay quiet for long. With Kelly Halliburton as their new drummer they call themselves Pierced Arrows now, and guess what? They sound exactly like Dead Moon. There´s a new album out on their own Tombstone label called Straight To The Heart, and a European tour in the works (check their site for details). Don´t forget to add Barcelona to the dates please...

Pierced Arrows - Caroline MP3

Dead Moon - It´s O.K. MP3

The Box Social is a new guitar band from Madison, Wisconsin. Dirty guitar rock with poppy hooks rules on their varied debut album Get Going, out now on the Bright Ideas label. These college rockers have obviously listened to the Replacements and the Goo Goo Dolls a lot, but Big T reminds me of Built To Spill, which is a recommendation in my book. I ain´t no Nostradamus, but The Box Social could go far.

The Box Social - Big T MP3

Here´s another new band I expect we´ll hear a lot more from in the future. Frontier Ruckus hail from Lansing, Michigan and play what I´d call folk americana. Listen to The Blood, a lenghty song from their debut ep I Am The Water You Are Pumping, to see what I mean. Nice banjo, original arrangement, beautiful melancholia. A full length album on Quite Scientific records is in the pipeline. Can´t wait, guys.

Frontier Ruckus - The Blood MP3

Let´s take it to tonights finish with two versions of the junkie lament Carmelita. The original is from the late Warren Zevon of course. Find it on Preludes (New West records). Nice, but you really have to hear G.G. Allin´s surprising acoustic cover. To refresh your memory: Allin was an infamous scumrocker who promised he´d kill himself on stage someday, but overdosed before he could deliver. G.G. obviously doesn´t know all the lyrics, but still manages to sound more convincing than Zevon, probably because he could really relate to the subject matter. "And I´m all strung out on heroin on the outskirts of town..."

Warren Zevon - Carmelita MP3

G.G. Allin - Carmelita MP3