DIG THIS WITH BILL MESNIK AND RICH BUCKLAND- THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS

Lee Moses was a huge talent and if he’d had the big hit album he richly deserved, Time And Place would’ve been it. A self-taught multi-instrumentalist, Moses cut his teeth in the clubs of Atlanta, the ‘Motown of the South’, where he frequently performed alongside his contemporary Gladys Knight (who reportedly wanted him for the Pips, but couldn’t pin him down).

It was, however, in New York in the ‘60s that Moses made his greatest bid to find the solo fame he desired. Moses began working there as a session player, even playing frequently with a pre-fame Jimi Hendrix, but his close relationship with producer and Atlanta native Johnny Brantley eventually saw him getting his own break via a series of 45s in 1967 – most notably with covers of Joe Simon’s “My Adorable One”, The Four Tops’ “Reach Out, I’ll Be There” and The Beatles’ “Day Tripper”.

It was 1971 before Moses’ dream of being at stage front was realized, when he released his Brantley-produced LP Time And Place for Maple Records. Recorded with a band including members of The Ohio Players and Moses’ own backing group The Deciples, it was, nonetheless, Moses himself whose star quality shone through, via his scratchy guitar riffs, his throat-ripping vocals and the stirring mood that permeates the LP’s heady mix of funk, soul and R&B.

If you’d been hanging out in Los Angeles any time in the summer of 1966, there would have been a high chance of stumbling across Arthur Lee. He might have been wearing just one shoe, or swimming trunks; he’d almost certainly be peering over a pair of psychedelic sunglasses. But then Lee could do what the hell he wanted. Barely 21 years old, he was the undisputed King Of The Sunset Strip: the most arrogant, brown-eyed, handsome man in Hollyweird. Lee and his band, Love, were helping usher in a whole new era of Californian music.

Sure, there were more commercially successful bands: The Byrds already had a run of hit singles and a European tour under their buckskin jackets by early ’66, and Brian Wilson was taking the Beach Boys to new creative heights even as his psyche crumbled under the weight of it all. But neither had such a charismatic, striking frontman as Lee. A singer and multi-instrumentalist, he was a lightning rod for the denizens of the burgeoning West Coast underground. “He cut an imposing figure,” says Jimmy Greenspoon, a future member of Love’s LA contemporaries Three Dog Night. “He had a mesmerising presence, a Pied Piper who would lead Love’s audience to a different form of consciousness.”

Love were the unsung heroes of the musical Big Bang that took place in 1966, although they have long been overshadowed by bands such as the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and especially one-time acolytes The Doors. If Love are remembered today, it’s for their third album, 1967’s Forever Changes, a masterpiece of baroque psychedelia. But a year before that, they blew a hurricane through Los Angeles. And Arthur Lee was at the eye of the storm.

"THE WORST OF ALL TIME?"

LORD SUTCH AND HEAVY FRIENDS by Lord Sutch (Cotillion, 1970)

Disclaimer: this is an unusual move for Captain Billy, who ordinarily posts carts by artists whose music he’s passionate about. However, one compelling aspect of collecting 8 tracks is the “grab bag” effect. Oftentimes, you’ll purchase a group-lot of cartridges and you won’t know what you have until you sort through them. Many times among the treasures are freak anomalies which hold a powerful attraction. This is that kind of item, and the story behind it is particularly interesting, so I decided to share it. 

Besides, I now proudly own three titles which hold the distinction of “The Worst Record Every Made” according to published sources: “Having Fun with Elvis on Stage,” “Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music,” and this one, which took the top spot of putrescence in a 1998 BBC poll. 

“Screaming” Lord Sutch, (1940-1999) was a character, to say the least. He held the record for contesting the most parliamentary elections, 39, since 1963. (After 1983 for the Official Monster Raving Loony Party).  Also in ’63 he started his own Pirate Radio station “Radio Sutch”, whose short tenure ended after his manager, Reginald Calvert, was shot dead in a financial dispute. Lord Sutch (he wasn’t really a Lord) was a known manic depressive who hanged himself in his late mother’s house in 1999, and then was buried beside her. 
This recording may be of interest to completists because features Jimmy Page, John Bonham, Jeff Beck, Nicky Hopkins, and Noel Redding so, any devotees of Led Zeppelin, The Yardbirds, and Jimi Hendrix might be very interested to have it.  Recorded in London and Hollywood, it was disowned by the so called “Heavy Friends”. Page declared: “it was a bit of a send up - the whole joke reversed itself and became ugly.” 

And, thus the flamboyant Englishman who, inspired by Screaming Jay Hawkins, would make his concert entrances from inside a coffin, and who had a minor hit in 1963, entitled “Jack the Ripper”, ended his strange recording career with this spectacular dud. 

“JERRY LEE and THE SUN SOUND”

The Sun Sound began when Sam Phillips launched his record company in February of 1952. He named it Sun Records as a sign of his perpetual optimism: a new day and a new beginning. Sam rented a small space at 706 Union Avenue for his own all-purpose studio. The label was launched amid a growing number of independent labels. In a short while Sun gained the reputation throughout Memphis as a label that treated local artists with respect and honesty. Sam provided a non-critical, spontaneous environment that invited creativity and vision.

As a businessman, Phillips was patient and willing to listen to almost anyone who came in off the street to record. Memphis was a happy home to a diverse musical scene: gospel, blues, hillbilly, country, boogie, and western swing. Taking advantage of this range of talent, there were no style limitations at the label. In one form or another Sun recorded them all.

Then in 1954 Sam found Elvis Presley, an artist who could perform with the excitement, unpredictability and energy of a blues artist but could reach across regional, musical and racial barriers.

He helped form the beginnings of the Sun Sound by infusing Country music with R&B. Elvis’s bright star attracted even more ground-breaking talent to the Sun galaxy. Listed among his contemporaries and music mates were Johnny Cash, the inimitable Jerry Lee Lewis, and the “Rockin’ Guitar Man”, Carl Perkins. These four soon became known as the Million Dollar Quartet. Right behind them came Roy Orbison, Charlie Rich, Bill Justis, Harold Jenkins (a.k.a. Conway Twitty) and other equally memorable musical talents. All eventually sold on Pop, R&B and Country charts and grew to international fame.

Rockabilly became the major evolution in the Sun Sound. Lyrically it was bold; musically it was sparse; but it moved. In the 1950’s Country music rarely used drums that were so vital to jazz, blues, and jump bands. In fact, drums were prohibited on stage at the Grand Ole Opry. However, Rockabilly drums played an essential role in driving teens across the nation to become enamored with the Rockabilly movement and the revolutionary Sun Sound. Once again, Sun was able to break new ground recording music of unparalleled diversity in an incubator of creativity.

Inherent in the music of Sun is a vibrancy that survives to this day. Sincere, passionate music. Music that has stood the test of time. It is music that has reached across race, age and gender boundaries. It reflects the diversity and vision of the talent that recorded on the Sun label, and indeed, American popular culture itself.

Before the emergence of the house and rave music scenes in the late 80's, there was Northern Soul. This phenomenon happened in the north of England where several clubs emerged where DJs played obscure American soul records. It may not sound like much now but I am guessing it meant a lot back in the mid 70's, particularly when you take into account the state of music in Britain at the time. Watch re-runs of Top of the Pops if you need proof that popular music in the UK was pretty dire on the whole at the time. These northern soul clubs offered up something energetic and joyous. From the perspective of today when everybody can get access to any music at the click of a button, it's amazing to think that some of the songs back in the day only existed on one solitary record owned by one DJ; so if you wanted to hear it, you had to go to see his set. The competition between DJs became intense but sadly such a retro scene was always going to have a finite existence because eventually there were no more obscure soul records left to find. Its details like these that I find most interesting.

"Commercial Rocks!" - This Is What the Radio Transmitted During the 60's When The Vinyl Was Not Spinning and The DJ Was Not Chattering - This Was Real Commercial Rock - With The Doors, Iron Butterfly, The Velvet Underground, Joe Tex, Peter and Gordon, Blues Magoos and MANY MORE!!
**** To experience a treasure trove of free, downloadable Podcasts and great music in High Definition  please visit "DIG THIS!" at:  https://www.buzzsprout.com/2028913

Despite all the trouble that dogged the label, there’s a reason ESP-Disk’ recordings still hold listeners spellbound 50 years later. It’s as simple as the motto that was on the back of every album: “the artists alone decide.” While that may seem to be a recipe for chaos, it often worked with Stollman’s shoestring operation, usually with just the one studio engineer, Richard Alderson, who got off one of the book’s better lines: “Sun Ra is Duke Ellington on acid”.

ESP-Disk’, a record label started in New York in 1963 by Bernard Stollman, unleashed a sonic blast of free-form rock ‘n’ roll, free jazz, ur-freak-folk, poetry, and experimental music until the end of the decade, a blast that would leave a mark on the next two generations. ESP introduced the world to, among others, The Fugs, Pearls Before Swine, the Velvet Underground, and the Holy Modal Rounders, and widened the audience for Albert Ayler, Sun Ra and Pharaoh Sanders. In 2012, Jason Weiss published Always In Trouble, an oral history of the label, which has been resurrected and is again releasing its back catalog and exciting new music. 

"THE GREATEST UNKNOWN GUITARIST"

IN THE BEGINNING by Roy Buchanan (Polydor, 1974)

This is one of my all-time favorite 8 track scores. I bought it for .29 cents at Rockaway Records in Silverlake, CA., and the amount of sublime bliss that it has given me for that paltry sum doesn’t equate. This proves the egalitarian potential of the 8 track: for the price of some spare change, one of life’s most profound visions may be glimpsed.  It is a collector’s Eldorado to not only find a hidden treasure in perfect condition, but to get it for a steal. 

I had never heard of Roy Buchanan when I decided: “what the hell”, and grabbed this immaculate cart,- but Robbie Robertson, Danny Gatton, Arlen Roth, Jeff Beck, David Gilmour, Jerry Garcia, and many others sure did, and they were influenced by his signature tone - (cited by Guitar Magazine as one of the 50 greatest of all time). And when I popped this cart into the player and heard his plaintive, wailing strings for the first time, I spontaneously burst into tears of delight. 

This was a decade after his early demise, at age 48,  when Roy was found suspiciously hanging by his shirt in a jail cell, after being arrested for “public intoxication”. Just imagine: if he had succeeded in his plan to quit the music business in the mid-60s, and become a hairdresser, the world would never have had these great recordings featuring his signature “pinch” harmonics, volume controlled “wah-wah”, and chicken picking. It’s a loss I don’t want to contemplate.

Legend has it that after Jimi Hendrix stole Roy’s wah-wah sound (by cheating with a pedal instead of using the volume control) - Roy decided to refocus his playing towards roots music, and in 1971 when the documentary “Introducing Roy Buchanan” was followed by an offer to this sharecropper’s son to join the Rolling Stones (which he declined), the world started taking notice.

On this, his fifth and last studio album, Roy delivers all the R&B telecaster goodness one could wish for (abetted by the punchy Tower of Power horns, and funky vocals by Billy Sheffield on Rescue Me and I’m a Ram). In the Beginning made it to #160 on the charts - and onto my eternal playlist.

THE "ONE HIT WONDER" IS A PART OF OUR MUSICAL VOCABULARY.
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE "ONE ALBUM WONDER"?
HERE WE EXAMINE FOUR SUCH TREASURES.