Tim Finn Imaginary Kingdom 2006

I love the prospect that this image holds for the record. Even if the music didn’t hold up, the atmosphere of possessing an “imaginary kingdom” of one’s own is absolutely thrilling. Quite apart from the ravages of loneliness are the epic potential each of us have for creativity, friendship, travel, personal change etc.

It’s such a spectacular image: the treed sky and of course birds. What time of day is it? Maybe it’s always the same time the keeps offering itself. Wearing a medieval walled city for a hat! Then there’s the watercolor face drawing with an unapologetic nose and dark sport coat the is absorbed by the lower darkness. What do the eyes tell us: It’s alright. This is your chance again.

the artwork is done by Debaser (Aaron Hayward & David Homer}

Ani Di Franco Revolutionary Love 2020

It’s been some time since I have gotten around to a post trumpeting the graphic and the musical. I happened to notice the cover of last year’s master class by the mistress of enthusiasm, Ani DeFranco. In an immense darkness, lightly garnished by stars, the immensity of the skyscrape is anchored by a slight silhouette of trees

Is this a graphic allegory of our lives in America at this desperate juncture. Her music on this record sure seems so. It has the spirit of the Gil Scott Heron/Brian Jackson records from back in the back of the racks.

Maybe if you just need somebody to hold you like when you were a child during that long ago period when you liked to be held this is your lp. Empathy, sympathy, a radiant hint of not putting up with this anymore to boot. A quiet, funky defiance that seems to have been gestating and finally decided to escape.

It may just be, inside the gnarly odds, revolutionary love.

June Tyson "Saturnian Queen of the Sun Ra Arkestra"

Modern Harmonic Records 2019

A commentary on the music of the jazz futurist Sun Ra is a daunting engagement. Whatever you could say about him walks out the door on the other side of the room. You can go to wikipedia or read evaluations done by jazz savants all over the internet. Over a hundred eclectic records, dozens of singles and enumerable epic musicians festooning a path that still is trod to this day. (His band is still playing though intermittently). But in 1968, twenty five years into his career, June Tyson, the only female ever to grace the arkestra, joined in the cavalcade. She assumed role of vocalist, violinist, choreographer, costume maker and resident empress. Her presence, so hospitable to the bands sonic instincts, made palpable the fabrics interweaving all the minstrels.

A new compendium “June Tyson The Saturnian Queen of the Sun Ra Arkestra” recently washed up on the beaches of our alien time. In the tradition of radio-graphics, the record cover and ensuing pictorial contents within, raise the banner of her artistry. Choice vocal moments from her tenure over the groups’ history are well featured. Madam Tyson marked the jazz landscape prominently.

So what are we to make of this Sun Ra and his minions? Wayward, Testy, Utopian Proposals for a Bleary Planet?

Where do I sign up ?

June Tyson’s dream book

From 'A Joyful Noise' 1980

Goodby, Babylon Dust to Digital Records 2003 compiled by Lance Ledbetter

I am not a record collector. My main music acquisition rationale is to gather artists whose records were hard to come by. I wanted to have them on hand to use in forthcoming radio shows I got involved in doing. It became my form of archiving but I knew not where it led. Hoarding, money making and trading in the temple had no appeal. Transfixing music was always the deal. At the time I had no idea of the place that was referred to in gospel music circles as the “Upper Room.” The inhabitants of this collection may shed light on that spirit shaking idea. Over the years no compilations came across my path like the serious detail found within “Goodbye, Babylon.”. The completeness of its representation of gospel music history is stunning. Check out the digs it arrives in

Inside the wooden box , genuine pieces of Georgia cotton, and 6 cds, 135 songs (1902-1960) and 25 sermons. The bases are covered within its rarefied sacred carpentry. Even for the atheists, agnostics, pinsetters and plainclothes police officers among us, gospel music is a game changer for we makeshift unbelievers. If there is no god in the sky his music sure kicks ass!

Crying Holy Unto the Lord by The Blue Chips from the album Gospel Greats Released 2015-12-11 on AudioSonic Music Download on iTunes: https://geo.itunes.apple...

The Queen singing on the Ed Sullivan show in 1956. Commentary from Smokey Robinson, and Anthony Heilbut from 'Rejoice and Shout' film.

Yep, they’re all represented,

here: small, tall, wide, indifferent, black, wayward, white, wined and undined. Getting the spirit movin’ in that endless tapestry of rhythm. Meet you in GLORYLAND down by the peas and carrots!

Original Box Cover

Dion McGregor

The Dream World of Dion McGregor Decca Records. 1964

Distinctively outlandishly, improbable. That’s what this record is. A man found by his roommate talking in his sleep and he finally gets him to agree to let it be recorded!

Overcame Mr. McGregor’s protestations in the service of art.

Exactly that. Never heard anything else like it. The poster child for eccentric.

But what talking it is. Theatrical, hyperbolic, outrageous, hilarious, bawdy, cheesy, surrealistic, richly detailed. Convincing. And somehow frenetically relaxing.

From the long out-of-print LP "The Dream World of Dion McGregor". This is track 4, entitled "The Diet".McGregor talked in his sleep. He articulated strange l...

No, not possible that it is somehow staged or acted. Nope, he’s asleep. Verified by a third party! An aspect of the human psyche never before captured. Well, maybe not captured. Maybe unleashed in all its uncensored glory. For when there is no muffler on our dream-story, there begins an unabashed glory.

You get to experience dream state in real time. Here’s another sample:

From the long out-of-print LP "The Dream World of Dion McGregor". This is track 8, entitled "The Mustard Battle".McGregor talked in his sleep. He articulated...

The illustrator for the cover is the famed Edward Gorey.

Joe Henry “Blood From Stars” 2009 Anti Records

W. Eugene Smith “Untitled” 1952

This photograph, from an extensive photo essay documenting the city of Pittsburg made in 1955 by the W. Eugene Smith, adorns the cover of Joe Henry’s recording “Blood From Stars.” Upon some research of Mr. Smith’s project and mindful of the subject matter and poetic depths of Mr. Henry’s music, a stunning marriage of the arts is revealed. Light, mystery, honesty, power, confusion, the tattered clothing of the human condition, forgiveness, frailty, the winsome, the lose some.

Over the last ten years or so Joe Henry has been one of the pre-eminent producers in American music. Simultaneously he has made one extraordinary record after another of his own. It’s confessional, probing, sweat blood to make work. Earnest sound made by a commingling of some of the best players you have probably never heard. The drummer Jay Bellarose, guitarist Marc Ribot, on piano Patrick Warren. Industrial noises, playground new orleans jazzophonics, an unexpected warm message from an old friend’s voice mail. Reasurringly testy.

Having made it my business to go and experience him live, the word impeccable floats up from the froth!. The engagement that nestles in his writing unsurprisingly inhabits his between song commentary. His melodic skills and guitar competency buoy the lyricism. A Joe Henry show is like the day the songs were imagined, tumbling out fresh as gravity, sure as an apple.

W. Eugene Smith “Dance of the Flaming Coke 1955

“Blood From Stars” is a record title for some substantial meditation. Ripe for personal interpretation, pregnant with wisdom, ready and dependable, depending on how ready your mind might be.

album: Blood From Stars

W. Eugene Smith was gone by 1978 but as to his photographs? Sitting around in books at libraries across the globe or in the collections of avid photographers until. The art gods kissed Joe Henry in his sleep and the particular wonder that never occurred to anyone before, in quite this way, disturbed the quiet distance between us all.

Ed Sanders "Truck Stop" 1969 Reprise

Vintage, Retro, Revolutionary, Errant, Ancient, Infantile, Ed Sanders, wanderlusting poet, singer, classicist, malestrome writer, left his solo lp “Truckstop” in the epicenter of a mercurial career. Fair warnings are included on the rear cover as a system of traffic lights stand in judgement of the material included with options running from green to yellow to red as to its moral fiber for broadcasting advisability.

Hard to believe any restaurant architecture could provide chili, shrimp and spaghetti on a convincing neon sign, with glass block and a striped awning window frosting. A nameless country western diner with Ed shielding his eyes in the high heat of the day. Almost a personification of the uphill climb that was Mr. Sanders journey as a forever Fug. The Fugs, that primal American band who goosed the moral turpitude of the country during the flailing 1960’s.

Incidentally, here’s what Pindar wrote long before Christ had pimples:

“Creatures of a day! What is anyone?
What is anyone not? A dream of a shadow
Is our mortal being. But when there comes to men
A gleam of splendour given of heaven,
Then rests on them a light of glory
And blessed are their days”

Listen instead to the “talk-sing” manner he employs as “Pindar’s Revenge” closes this period defining record. And lyrics to the spoken recitation found in the piece.

I know that the sun rising
Is a temporary thing,
That the sun obtuse on clouds
At 30 thousand feet from the
Airline windows is an
Equal particle, that
Ra is a shard, an
Ostracon from a forbidden
Cycle of the acons.
Nor god nor pulsing phantom forever
But that I live at the mansion of earth
For 80 years in the warmth,
The children off to space,
The chickens still crowing
At sunup, but our
Hearts beat lugubrium lugubrium lugubrium
At Ra’s pink-fingered sinking
42 billion years
Then zap
Then 42
Zap
We are caught
The meat chain
Born of the prostate,
Born of the
Cusping egg-
Caught, ended,
Slashed. We are
Led by the calf
To the thin
Arroyo
To be slaughtered in droves
Driven into the eyes and
Slashings of the manglers,
That little drama,
No matter,
42
Zap
“we are now
In the
Electromagnetic
Cycle”
IT lives.
Enormous breathings
& compressions
Of IT

Maybe print out a copy of this cover, make a postcard of it. David Bromberg provides guitar accompaniment. Pindar never forgets what his accompany meant.

“Now the old country school is now a crashpad and you’re gone,

yes you’re gone.”

Harmonica Blues: Great Harmonica Performances of the 1920's and '30s/ R.Crumb Cover Yazoo Records 1053

The Yazoo Records icon

R. Crumb, the noted illustrational voice of the 1960’s, captured the humor and pathos of the times with deep portraits of America’s vast musical resources. In fact when viewed within one of the extant compendiums of his cartooning, the volume, quality and cultural critiquing are staggering. A vast array of commercial paraphernalia, like decks of cards preserving early jazz greats, heroes of the blues and pioneers of country music. The “Harmonica Blues” exemplifies the direct hits he made connecting with the spirit of the recordings within. I’ve gathered some examples at the end of the post.

DeFord Bailey (December 14, 1899 -- July 2, 1982) was an early country music star and the first African American performer on the Grand Ole Opry. Bailey play...

Woebegone, weary, the washed up and worndown glory of our citizens, carrying around the warps of the ages. Crumb unwashed vats of his own personal, often perverse laundry in telling fashion! Then there are the iconic personas into whom he breathed life, like “Mr. Natural, “ the irritant monk. His comic disgust with the superficialities and banal trends of culture are indispensible. My favorite is below.

And so some brief snapshots of comic book truths.

And of course his not to be forgotten band

Holy Modal Rounders “Good Taste is Timeless” 1971 w/ Under Cover Paintings of Michael Hurley :

This is the fifth lp in the careening odyssey of a premier American folk Band, the Holy Modal Rounders. The duo perhaps on the so called back nine of their grand social experiment were an essential pigment in the back to the land, primal recovery and repurposing of traditional music forms. In addition, they had the good moxy to have one Michael Hurley do the lp cover art. With the exception of his very first record on Folkways, he has painted and sung his way into the hearts and minds of a generally unrepenting public. This post provides a welcome excuse to trot out some obscure graphic highlights. A few trends become immediately apparent:

It’s the 1960’s. People aren’t necessarily wearing shoes anymore. They all have bearclaw feet. Public fun has become a cottage industry. Certain farms in Vermont have succeeded from the Union and the Confederacy! Keep an eye on the persistent relevance of two main heroes, the errant wolves Boone and Jocko (seen in the middle right background). Their continuing chief contributions are to sex, alcohol use, music making and cosmic musing, and an irregular shiftiness. They are not Michael Hurley’s alter egos, he be them. If you direct your eyes to the bandstand of the great outdoors, with the certain hardwood floors and curlique guitar chords, the colors of the moment have arrived.

Embed Block

Add an embed URL or code. Learn more

One thing you notice about childrens’ paintings is the lack of an urge to please somebody. Their strokes are direct. Their energy is unapologetically apparent. Maybe they haven’t been around long enough to let opinions silence the voice of art inside. Michael is the eternal inner child painter.

“Back Home With the Drifting Woods” 1965 @ Gerdes Folk City

Mountains is roundish, stylish nowhere lonely roads, Jocko landscraping, thumb out a whistlin tumbleweed.

No Idea Where But We Gettin There

Mr. Hurley is a great record hound. Unearthing lost and forgotten song classics. Then he re-impersonates them onstage. They return illuminated by their own glory.

“Dark Valley Walls” by Wilmer “Bill” Browning sparks off 2013’s “Land of Lo Fi”

And “Blue Driver"by J.R. Cheatham greases the palms of Michael’s “Hi Fi Snock Uptown” 1972

kris delmhorst. the wild 2017

Adroit. Melding the exacting image for the sounds within. What is this landscape? Where is it? By the ocean? In some hardscrabble back country? The scale is hard to determine. Is it 20 ft. high or 200? The wild is scarred or adorned with graffiti. So someone took the risk of traversing the jagged cliffs. But for what? Just like the songs of love she recorded narrating and navigating its undulations. Jeffrey Foucault who is married to Ms. Delmhorst took the photo. I don’t really want to know where it is located. Scraggy trees. Beat up rocks that ask why. The alive furvor. A tempest that could explode or just hold placid. The mystery surrounding this spot probably helps. But from the variety of scrawlings on stone it may be a place in a town that everybody knows about. A active tradition where a return is made to record the recent action going on with the humans.

In the always risky wild.

!

Provided to YouTube by CDBaby The Wild · Kris Delmhorst The Wild ℗ 2017 Kris Delmhorst Released on: 2017-09-22 Auto-generated by YouTube.

the i don't cares wild stab 2016

Paul Westerberg, the guiding light of the fab long lost Minneapolis rock act the Replacements has not taken his foot off the gas since their demise. Indeed many of the 12 or so projects feature him playing all of the instruments.

The group’s name expresses a beautiful alienation, a patented disinterest perfect sometimes in a society that ain’t made of much. He is joined by a lo-fi queen Juliana Hatfield, an entirely suitable guest for helping create an ambling mood pace with wisps of the old Faces. When I first saw the cover it struck me with its strikingly festive economy. A celebration of the simple purity of all the colorful geometric shapes that structure a guitar’s looks! I searched to find out who made this but had no luck. So we just bask with it.

Mr. Westerberg’s sound has that cool electric touch that I can only think he discovered by a lots of sheer trying. One can imagine his ever lovin’ editing in his sparse workshop. A beat up, worn down, crawling along, maybe blearily artful, touchingly reverbed, quietly hopeful collection. These people know how not to try too hard . There’s a lot in a little.

A stop-motion video for "Back" by The I Don't Cares, (Paul Westerberg and Juliana Hatfield), from their album Wild Stab. Artist: www.helenfrank-who.blogspot....

Provided to YouTube by Redeye Distribution Just A Phase · The I Don't Cares Wild Stab ℗ 2015 Dry Wood Music ASCAP, Juliana Hatfield Music BMI Released on: 20...

Hadestown, Anais Mitchell, 2010

With all the hubub surrounding the explosion of Anais Mitchell’s “Hadestown” on Broadway and her subsequent Tony Awards its perhaps rewarding to marvel at the entirety of its odyssey. The conglomeration of effort, talent, fate, accident and the fickle whims of public acceptance somehow conspired to keep it breathing and for new iterations to come alive. Few records exist chronicling the lonely haunts of Ms. Mitchell’s first imaginings toward a folk opera based on coagulating figures from Greek mythology. I haven’t been able to untangle it meself. But a measure of its proof is in the pudding of Greg Brown, Bon Iver, Ani DiFranco, Ben Knox Miller and the Haden Triplets within this concocted stew. You get unveilings like, “Why We Build the Wall,” which in 4:18 successfully addresses and satisfactorily points the way to understanding and solving America’s immigration problem. Never since Martha and the Vandellas “Dancing in the Streets” has a social problem been so convincingly laid bare by a pop song.

From the concept album, Hadestown All content is property of its respective owners; None of it being mine. This media is for entertainment purposes only.

radio-graphics attempts to bring to life the oft under-appreciated graphics that comprise the total package of a recording project. In this regard, illustrator Peter Nevins @ Peter Nevins Design and art director Brian Grunert @ White Bicycle provided meticulous retro wood mytho-cut figures to augment the passions of the listener.

Hades Persephone Hermes

Frontspiece to liner notes/ booklet

So dig in to one of the great artistic triumphs to grace our weary civilization from the state of Vermont since maple syrup.

Track 10, featuring Ani DiFranco as Persephone. From the 2010 album Hadestown by Anaïs Mitchell. The album is a "folk opera" of the story of Orpheus and Eury...

Miniatures: a sequence of 51 tiny masterpieces by morgan-fisher 1980

Who thinks much about the length of a song? The trending of radio history is that few pieces are much longer than 3 minutes. But why? Is that the accepted time limit of human listening capacity? Not sure. But music can be an exacting expression, economic as the wind, operating at the speed of a haiku. So it is in this spirit that the concept for a remarkable recording project was completed and released by British record label owner Morgan-Fisher. He took it upon himself to invite 50 musicians he admired to send in tracks up to one minute in length.

They responded with unanimous enthusiasm. The exceptionalist, excitational, artist Ralph Steadman crafted the lp’s cover.

A huge poster is included to adorn the music and announce its players and is included in this tract.

Label Logo

Song Samples:

Gifted Swindon (UK) songwriter/singer/guitarist rooting in the mid-70's Punk/New Wave hype. Co-founder and main songwriter of the band XTC. Founded the label...

The great man's miniature lecture is taken from the classic album "Miniatures" (1980), "a selection of fifty-one tiny masterpieces" by various interesting pe...

Poster Insert for Minatures

Surreally connected, quick, invigorating, shape shifting for your listening expansion:

M i n a t u r e s by Morgan-Fisher

You can find each of these by just typing the song name on you tube

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. (5:00)
1) Bum Love : Ollie Halsall and John Halsey
2) We're a Happy Family / Bali Ha'l : The Residents
3) The Wreck of Hesperus : Roger McGough
4) Green and Pleasant : Morgan Fisher
5) Mine Tonight : John Otway
2. (6:00)
1) My Way : Pete Challis and Phil Diplock
2) Rangers in the Nightst : Robert Wyatt
3) Opus 5 : Stinky Winkles
4) Body Language : Mary Longford
5) Andy the Dentist : Andy Thunderclap Newman
6) Wagner's Ring in One Minute : David Bedford
3. (5:00)
1) The Entire Works of Henry Cow : Fred Frith
2) Look Beneath the Surface : Maggie Nicols
3) Week-End : Joseph Racaille
4) With Wings Pressed Back : The Work
5) Cum on Feel the Noize : Neil Innes and Son
4. (5:00)
1) Toscany in Blue (Last Minute) : Herbert Distel
2) An End to the Matter : Lol Coxhill
3) One Minute in the Life of Ivan Denisovich : Ken Ellis
4) Alice : Steve Miller
5. (6:00)
1) John Peel Sings the Blues Badly : Norman Lovett
2) Serrons Nous Les Coudes : Patrick Portella
3) Sounds that Saved My Life (Homage to K.S.) : George Melly
4) Miniature : Robert Fripp
5) The History of Rock 'n' Roll : Andy Partridge (XTC)
6) Breather : Phantom Captain
6. (6:00)
1) Enterbrain Exit : Ron Geesin
2) An Imaginary Orchestra : Alejandro Viñao
3) Stop the Music for a Minute : Quentin Crisp
4) Tetrad : Simon Desorgher
5) Sweetest Love (Lament After a Broken Sashcord on a Theme of John Donne) : Ralph Steadman
6) Tipperary : R.D. Laing and Son
7. (5:00)
1) Beach Double : Trevor Wishart
2) Scène De Ballet : John White
3) Brooch Boat : Ivor Cutler
4) Do Tell Us : Hector Zazon
5) A Miniaturisation of Bartok's Sonata for 2 Pianos & Percussion (3rd Movement) : Michael Bass and Ellen Tenenbaum
8. (4:00)
1) A Swift One : Martin Chambers (The Pretenders)
2) Refreshment Break : Bob Cobbing and Henri Chopin
3) Night Torch : Dave Vanian (The Damned)
4) Racing Poodles : Metabolist
9. (5:00)
1) After Mendelssohn : Gavin Bryars
2) Paint it Black : 1/2 Japanese
3) Arthurs Treat : Simon Jeffes (Penguin Cafe Orchestra)
4) Talking World War III Blues : Mark Perry
5) 89 - 90 - 91 - 92 : Michael Nyman
10. (5:00)
1) Index of Ends : David Cunningham (Flying Lizards)
2) James, Mark and Me (In the Manner of Tom Waits) : Kevin Coyne
3) Hep! : Etron Fou Leloublan
4) The Minute Warp : Neil Oram and Ken Cambell and the Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool
5) Chorale from Beethoven's 9th Symphony : Pete Seeger
11. (1:00)
1) One Minutes Silence : No Artists
12. (1:00)
1) The Miniatures Miniature : All Artists

Dave Mason: Alone Together 1970

The front cover:

If there is a more astoundingly, creative lp package than Dave Mason’s solo lp “Alone Together,” I don’t know about it. A colorful tri-unfolding affair complete with a mysterious looking piece of vinyl purportedly approximating marble, but looking much more like vomit when spinning upon ones turntable.

LP inside pocket

These photos chronicle the graphic voyage accompanying Mr. Mason’s strong guitaring and unfettered song smithing.

Intial view upon opening bi-fold view

Special foldout fourth page!

The package concept was designed by Tom Wilkes & Barry Feinstein for Camoutlage Productions. As for the music, Leon Russell, Rita Coolidge, drummer Jim Keltner, Jim Capaldi and producer extraordinary John Simon have left an enduring composite well worth revisiting. Dave Mason at 73 continues performing.

Dave Mason -" look at you look at me",from the album "Alone Together",the cd version i think...studio anyway... The cast of players includes: Rita Coolidge, Claudia Lennear, and Delaney & Bonnie on vocals. Jim Capaldi (Traffic) on drums, Leon Russel keyboards. Mason on guitar obviously, joined by (among others) Chris Ethridge (ISB & Flying Burrito Brothers).

Red Rhodes Pedal Steel Trancesender

Red Rhodes appeared at a time when the poetry that had smouldered through country music shape shifted. The one thing you can count on in music is unlikeliness. It’s hard to track from whence things come from and how they will end up. Otherworldliness with the Ventures and carving a new waft of emotional possibilities with Mike Nesmith’s First National Band through 3 pivotal records. Then there is the matter of the VELVET HAMMER IN A COWBOY BAND: 1973 Countryside Records. The completely uncharted territory of a singular pedal steel lp that flies up into classical, jazz-rock and who knows what, leaving us experiencing how resoundingly wonderfull music can be.

Black Prairie Performs. Wild Ones from a work by Jon Mooallem. 2013

Immensurate. That’s what this dimure 10” disc lying low in the weeds of recorded history is. Black Prairie, a largely unsung string and accordion based ensemble from Oregon, composed this music to accompany Mr. Mooallem’s book which looks at how humans look at animals. This record will stop you in your animal tracks. For you are an animal. Beautifully lit, studiously intimate sound. It will make you glad you took the time to find the book and the record. These people found something that may help. It turns out, you have more time.

Provided to YouTube by TuneCore A Tranquilized Polar Bear Rising Through an Autumn Sky · Black Prairie Wild Ones ℗ 2013 Captain Bluegrass Released on: 2013-05-14 Auto-generated by YouTube.

Provided to YouTube by TuneCore Dawn Departure, Jefferson County · Black Prairie Wild Ones ℗ 2013 Captain Bluegrass Released on: 2013-05-14 Auto-generated by YouTube.

Richard Greene RAMBLIN'. Rounder 1979

Few painterly views rival the plan/aerial vantage for apprehending rocks, livestock, the human head, or a fully realized railroad bed. Here, illustrator Michael Ansell has transposed the old architectural magic on a long lost lp from epic violinist Richard Greene. Hear a high water mark from the recording: a cover of Ornette Coleman’s “Ramblin’” with Buell Neidlinger, bass and the wizardly Andy Statman, mandolin.

Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group North America Ramblin' · Richard Greene Ramblin' ℗ 1979 Rounder Records Manufactured and distributed by Concord Music Group Released on: 1979-01-01 Auto-generated by YouTube.

The Youngbloods : Elephant Mountain 1969

There was a time when recordings were made to be listened to in their entirety. No single tracks. In fact the spaces between pieces of music were evaporated and all flowed each to the other. Such was the case with

The Youngbloods’ “Elephant Mountain.” If there were a candidate for a recording that remained longest, continuously, on a turntable in some mythic 1960’s college dormitory room, it might be this little biscuit. 13 originals of folk, rock, jazz troubadoring laced intimately together. Stellar instrumentals too. These guys had chops! So have a complete visit and as the recording itself suggests, “ride the wind.”

Cover by Charles L. Heald

THE YOUNGBLOODS - Elephant Mountain (1969) SIDE A 00:00 Darkness, Darkness 03:50 Smug 06:02 On Sir Francis Drake 12:45 Sunlight 15:54 Double Sunlight 16:33 Beautiful SIDE B 20:39 Rain Song 23:48 Trillium 26:56 Quicksand 29:37 Black Mountain Breakdown 30:18 Sham 33:00 Ride The Wind The Youngbloods were an American rock band consisting of Jesse Colin Young (vocals, bass), Jerry Corbitt (guitar), Lowell Levinger, nicknamed "Banana" (guitar and electric piano), and Joe Bauer (drums).

Robert Wyatt Shipbuilding EP 1982

This little gem specializes three cover tunes: two from Thelonious Monk and a meditative lesser known classic from Elvis Costello, “Shipbuilding.” Adorning the front and back of this 12” 45 rpm is a painting by Stanley Spence’s painting of “Shipbuilding on the Clyde: Riveters.”

Written by Elvis Costello, performed amazingly by Robert Wyatt, probably the first performance of a song that brought tears to my eyes!

“When we could be diving for pearls…”

Vivian Stanshall: The Exceptional Exceptionalist

Men Opening Umbrellas Ahead 1974

I never saw his face. I saw the voice first. Its Original Vigor hilariously assured. A Chef of absurdity. Comfortable as everyday chaos. Strange tongues inclined towards infatuations with trousers and shirts. Playfully incarnating dozens of British characters Sure as hemlock. Episodes of gargling recorded unashamedly.