Groovy Thunder

It's nearly time for the inevitable FTSOTS end of year list, but let's get the finest reissues and archival albums of 2019 out of the way first ok? You'll come alive when the band starts swinging... With stocking stuffing artwork by the almighty Tinca, it's ho ho ho and here we go.

1. Peter Laughner - The Peter Laughner Box
2. Bob Dylan - The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings
3. Jimi Hendrix - Songs For Groovy Children: The Fillmore East Concerts
4. v/a - If You're Not Part Of The Solution: Soul, Politics And Spirituality In Jazz '67-'75
5. Jim Sullivan - If The Evening Were Dawn
6. Neil Young & The Stray Gators - Tuscaloosa
7. Sachiko Kanenobu - Misora
8. Grateful Dead - Dave's Picks Vol. 30: Fillmore East 1970
9. v/a - Black Man's Pride 3: None Shall Escape The Judgement Of The Almighty
10. Tunng - This Is Tunng... Magpie Bites And Other Cuts

Peter Laughner - Fat City Jive

Have You Heard

Spotlight on three old live gigs, excavated this year. The Gregg Allman Tour was recorded when Gregg was on the road in '74 promoting his first solo album Laid Back, with Cowboy as his backing band. Goes without saying it's an inspired and often quite funky affair all around.

Gregg Allman - Queen Of Hearts (live '74)

Listening to Tim Buckley is always a joy. Here he is helped by percussionist Carter Collins and a nameless bassplayer on stage in Chicago back in '69. A charming audience recording with quite a bit of tape hiss, but when the star sailor is in improvisational full flight, who gives a damn?

Tim Buckley - Green Rocky Road/Hush, Little Baby (live '69)

And last but not least, ladies & gentlemen: the greatest guitar slinger of 'em all. Jimi's Songs For Groovy Children set compiles all the Fillmore Concerts with his legendary Band Of Gypsys, which means we've got an essential document on our hands here. "Do I laugh, baby, do I cry..."

Jimi Hendrix - Who Knows (live '69)

Mister Mister Pt. Two

The second installment already? Time sure does fly, mister. Six pack!

Leroy Smart - Mr. Rich Man
Jimi Hendrix - Mr. Bad Luck
African Music Machine - Mr. Brown
Speed Glue & Shinki - Mr. Walking Drugstore Man
The Anomoanon - Mr. Train
Wire - Mr. Suit

Hey Joe

Does this little tune from 1962 ring a little bell? Good. Move over Jimi, and let Niela take over. This is the one and only original, you dig. Niela's boyfriend Billy Roberts 'borrowed' and rewrote it and the rest, as they say, is history.

Niela Miller - Baby Don't Go To Town

Purple Velvet

And here's mr. Hendrix, from that wonderful purple velvet box set I just can't get enough of at the mo. We'll start with a short but very sweet early take of Room Full Of Mirrors from the Electric Ladyland sessions, with his old pal Paul Caruso on harp. And we'll conclude with the full blast tandem of Hey Baby and In From The Storm, recorded on the Hawaiian island of Maui in that long gone summer of 1970.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Room Full Of Mirrors

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Hey Baby/In From The Storm

Married Man´s A Fool

"Ever since you walked right in, the circle's been complete,

I've said goodbye to haunted rooms and faces in the street,
To the courtyard of the jester which is hidden from the sun,
I love you more than ever and I haven't yet begun..."

Thanks for that, Bob, could not have said it any better myself. As it happens to be my - umpteenth - wedding anniversary today, here´s a tenpack of songs about that weird phenomenon called marriage. Married man may be a fool, Ry, and granted Tom, I do indeed have to ask permission when I want to go out fishin´, but that´s cool with me.

"And I could never let you go, no matter what goes on,

'Cause I love you more than ever now that the past is gone..."

Ry Cooder - Married Man´s A Fool MP3

Bob Dylan - Wedding Song MP3

Tom Waits - Better Off Without A Wife MP3

George Jones & Tammy Wynette - Golden Ring MP3

David Bowie - Be My Wife MP3

Blind Willie Reynolds - Married Man Blues MP3

Freda Payne - Band Of Gold MP3

Jimi Hendrix Experience - 51st Anniversary MP3

Replacements - You´re Getting Married MP3

Moby Grape - Gypsy Wedding MP3

Under The Influence (Slight Return)

Since you guys are obviously interested in the subject, here´s one more piece on Dylan under the influence, inspired by Derek Barker´s recent book (see my post below). Tons of traffic here during the past few days, but disappointingly only one comment... You can do better than that, amigos.

Almost everybody knows Jimi Hendrix once covered a Dylan song with great success, so I´m not even going to mention the title here. But most people don´t realize that Dylan once did a Hendrix-cover as well. They are forgiven though, as it only happened one time, and live in Australia at that.

Dylan first tried out Jimi´s Dolly Dagger at a ´92 rehearsal for the David Letterman show, Barker informs us, after talking with his guitar tech about Hendrix´s sound. It wasn´t performed on the programme though, but it got a one-off live outing two months later in the fair city of Perth, on March 18, ´92. Guitarist John Jackson does a remarkably adequate Hendrix imitiation, while Bob seems to be enjoying himself tremendously on vocals. Look out!

Now I knew from Charles Shaar Murray´s excellent book on Hendrix (Crosstown Traffic) that Dolly Dagger was inspired by New York super-groupie Devon Wilson, who was apparently one of the most important women in Jimi´s short life. On Hendrix´s twenty-seventh birthday party, she walked out of the door with Mick Jagger on her arm. Which just might have been Mick´s revenge, as Hendrix had done his best to lure Marianne Faithfull away from the Stones vocalist just a few years earlier.

Barker offers the following additional information: Jagger apparently cut his finger at said party, and Wilson rushed over to Jagger´s side and sucked his finger until the bleeding stopped. The episode took place in full view of Hendrix, who later wrote the line ´she drinks her blood from a jagged edge...´ in Dolly Dagger. Great stuff.

Jimi Hendrix - Dolly Dagger MP3

Bob Dylan - Dolly Dagger (live Perth ´92 MP3)

Tibetan grab bag

Well, not really. I mean, if you expected to find some Tibetan music here I´m sorry to disappoint you. I don´t even own any Tibetan music as far as I know. I´d merely like to dedicate this version of Friday Grab Bag to the Tibetans who are currently protesting the Chinese occupation of their country, contrary to their non-violent religious beliefs. That takes guts, right? Not that it´s going to happen, but a boycott of these outmoded Olympics would be a grand gesture to a people struggling to keep their culture alive, and a rigid digit in the face of a perfidious regime.

Well, now that´s off my chest let´s hear it for some tunes. What caught my fancy this week? Got the new Raconteurs for you, a rare track by Jonathan Richman, and two versions of the great traditional Canadee-I-O. Om mani padme hum, as they say in Lhasa and environs.

Let´s get going with the Flamin Groovies, a sadly forgotten rock ´n´ roll band from San Francisco. In their late sixties/early seventies heyday they sounded and looked rather out of place among the hippies, who didn´t really appreciate their lowdown dirty sound. The Groovies even moved to the UK in ´72 because they had a much bigger following in Europe. The compilation Groovies´ Greatest Grooves (Sire) is an exemplary document to their greatness.

Flamin Groovies - Teenage Head MP3

Let´s rock out some more why don´t we. You probably know by now that the Raconteurs have a new album out, as the ads are everywhere. I loved their debut, and I must say I often prefer the Raconteurs to Jack White´s other band. From the songs I´ve heard so far Consolers Of The Lonely (XL/Warner) is another fine effort, although the more Zeppelinesque excursions manage to irritate me as much as on the first album. But maybe that´s just me, as everybody and their dog seems to like Zep these days.

The Raconteurs - These Stones Will Shout MP3 (deleted on request of our pals at Warner Brothers)

Time to lower the tempo now. Last week I posted the original Nancy Sinatra-Lee Hazlewood duet Sand here, and tonight I just have to play you this amazing cover version by German noisemeisters Einstürzende Neubauten. Blixa Bargeld sings/whispers it like an old pervert and plays a mean solo, while the rest of the band merrily bangs away on their custom built oildrums. Find it on Halber Mensch (Some Bizarre ´85).

Einstürzende Neubauten - Sand MP3

Yesterday´s Modern Lovers track made me hungry for more. Jonathan Richman´s slightly nasal voice never ceases to amaze me. No one sounds as pure and innocent as Jonathan can. Hey There Little Insect comes from a rare acoustic bootleg called Living Room Demos, also known as the Solo Acetate. It was recorded late ´73 or early ´74 in - you guessed it - Jonathan´s living room. I do hope some record label (Rounder perhaps?) will put this out officially sometime. "Hey there, little potato bug..." Great stuff.

Jonathan Richman - Hey There Little Insect MP3

"She´ll never see that seaport town, called Canadee-I-O..." A beautiful traditional in a honoured line of songs about girls going out to sea dressed as men to follow their true loves. British folkie Nic Jones recorded it for his exquisite Penguin Eggs album (Topic ´80), and Bob Dylan allegedly used Nic´s arrangement for his own version on Good As I Been To You (Columbia ´92). It´s fun to compare the two. My verdict: Jones wins on guitar, Bob on vocals.

Nic Jones - Canadee-I-O MP3

Bob Dylan - Canadee-I-O MP3

We´re signing off tonight with some sonic mayhem from Jimi Hendrix. Machine Gun (from Band Of Gypsys, MCA ´70) speaks for itself I guess. "I ain´t afraid of your mess no more baby". Free Tibet!

Jimi Hendrix - Machine Gun MP3