A sample of some obscure - and maybe not obscure - tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.
Today's selection: Dandy Warhols "You Were The Last High" 2003
A band from Portland, OR first formed in 1994 as a group of friends who "needed music to drink to".
Apparently, the band is still active, with 3 of the original 4 members and a newer drummer.
One of my "newer" selections ... more than 20 years old? Oh my.
Continue reading →A sample of some obscure – and some maybe not obscure – tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.
Today’s selection: Mrs Miller "Downtown" 1966
OK. I'd say this was extremely obscure but I don't know that "obscure" applies to something that may be found on Utube - as it seems most everything I have can be ...
Some things in a "collection" are there simply to be collected. This selection belongs to that group. My hat's off to ye if you can make through the whole tune ...
Mrs. Miller (1907 - 1997) was an American singer who gained some fame in the 1960s for her series of shrill and off-tempo renditions of popular songs. Miller sang for American servicemen in Vietnam, performed at the Hollywood Bowl and appeared on numerous television talk and variety shows.
"An untrained mezzo-soprano, she sang in a heavy, vibrato-laden style; Miller's voice was compared to the sound of roaches scurrying across a trash can lid."
In spite of this, the song reached the Billboard Top 100 in 1966.
Enjoy ... or something.
Continue reading →Yesterday - June 9, 2025 - "Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone, dead at 82"
A sample of some obscure – and some maybe not obscure – tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.
Today’s selection: Sly and the Family Stone "I Want To Take You Higher", "Everybody Is A Star" 1969
Both cuts were B sides; both cuts ranked high on the Billboard charts.
Woodstock: "What we would like to do ... is sing a song together ..."
" "I Want to Take You Higher" is not a message song; instead, it is simply dedicated to music and the feeling one gets from music."
The performance at Woodstock - about 3AM - was considered one of the best of the festival.
"Everybody Is A Star" wasn't released on an LP until a Greatest Hits compilation was released.
Sly & The Family Stone put on a good show - when they decided to show up, something not always certain.
Continue reading →A sample of some obscure – and some maybe not obscure – tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.
Today’s selection: It's A Beautiful Day "White Bird" 1968
Hippies!
A 1967 San Francisco band; their most famous cut was inspired when living in Seattle during winter.
"Where the 'white bird' thing came from … We were like caged birds in that attic. We had no money, no transportation, the weather was miserable. We were just barely getting by on a very small food allowance provided to us. It was quite an experience, but it was very creative in a way."
Nice tune though
Continue reading →A sample of some obscure – and some maybe not obscure – tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.
Today’s selection: Deep Purple's "Burn" cover 1974
Let me take you back to a Friday night in September 1974. A warm late summer evening. A pick-up college bar in a medium sized town in Michigan. Not really a dive bar ... but the decor was open-ceiling industrial flat black. The toilets - at least the men's version - were arranged for one purpose: getting rid of excessive amounts of cheap beer via various orifices. I'd find it hard to believe the women's version was much different - perhaps those in the audience with experience of such places might express their thoughts ... because - being a pick-up bar in a college town of the mid-70s - the girls fully participated in the fun.
Funny about all the dear, "I Love You, Man" friends I made there that were forgotten the next morning. Sometimes, I wish they had been forgotten the next morning. Sometimes, they wish I had been forgotten the next morning. Or the night before.
If I have child - unknown, unlikely, but possible - it would be about 50 years old now ...
Anyway, any respectable (I use the term loosely but several of you will understand) bar of that era and that place had live music, at least on the weekends. Ted Nugent was one of the performers here. That type of dive bar. Somewhat local boy. I recall one "concert" where he basically practiced his screeching and feedback (though I like a fair amount of Nugent's stuff, especially with Amboy Dukes - but this was after the Duke's time and before he went solo)
On this Friday night, I had permission from the bar and band to record the show. I like this cover of Burn but the band shall remain nameless per their request. I actually like this version better than Deep Purple's.
So - here you have a sample of Friday night bar music, 1974.
Continue reading →A sample of some obscure – and some maybe not obscure – tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.
Today’s selection: Fever Ray - "Keep the Streets Empty for Me" 2009
A bit of a newer cut today. "Fever Ray" is the cover name for Karin Dreijer of Sweden and also the name of her debut solo album (Karin formally with the group "The Knife")
Four singles were released from the album; this is not one of them.
At one time Karin was asked about the meaning of this song. She replied words to the effect that this song was written by a deer.
Continue reading →A sample of some obscure – and some maybe not obscure – tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.
Today’s selection: Ultimate Spinach "Mind Flowers" 1971
Let's delve deep into hippiedom, circa 1968. (it won't be the last time ...)
A Boston band marketed as an alternative to the "San Francisco Sound".
"marketed" pretty describes the end of the short-lived hippie era.
"One day, in 1967, I was in my room, tripping on some really pure LSD. I started looking at myself in the mirror and my face was doing funny things. I had a bunch of colored markers I used to draw with. I grabbed a green one and started drawing all these psychedelic designs on my face. When I was done, I looked at myself and said 'Whoa! I am ultimate spinach. Ultimate spinach is me!'"
The band did tour with bands such as "Big Brother & The Holding Co" (Janis Joplin) and the "Youngbloods" and released three albums, each fading away a bit more - the third did not make the charts; but the first is still listed as a "psychedelic classic".
"The Spinach's self-titled debut album is now considered a psychedelic classic, but it's the group's second record, Behold and See, that is perhaps their finest achievement."
This cut is off the second LP, "Behold and See", which was re-released on a heavily edited CD in 1995 but is now available in the original format on vinyl for $25.
"Obviously the hit from this album is “Mind Flowers” by the wasted Ultimate Spinach, a drug bathed band from Boston who came into being in 1967, at the apex of the psychedelic musical experience." Dec 2020
Turn on your lava light and drop a hit.
Continue reading →A sample of some obscure – and some maybe not obscure – tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.
Today’s selection: B-52s - "Private Idaho" 1980
"Idaho is pretty mysterious to all of us. I know it's a beautiful state, but then I know there's also a lot of crazy right-wingers and all that stuff."
Home.
The band never played in Idaho until 2011.
Continue reading →A sample of some obscure – and some maybe not obscure – tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.
Today’s selection: Bob Seger "Noah" 1969 from "The Bob Seger System"
A not-favorite song of a not-favorite album of the same name. Seger almost quit the business after the release of this, his second LP.
"Death Row" and "Lennie Johnson" were also on this album.
A sample of some obscure – and some maybe not obscure – tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.
Today’s selections: Jon Astley "Jane's Getting Serious" 1987 and Superfine Dandelion - "Janie's Tomb" 1967
They just seem to go together ...
Jon Astley is a British record producer and recording engineer. The list of groups he worked with is extensive: The Who, Eric Clapton, Rolling Stones, etc. He recorded two albums as songwriter/singer in the late '80s. "Jane's Getting Serious" is the most prominent of these.
Superfine Dandelion was a 1967 garage rock band out of Phoenix. They recorded one no-hit album and broke up in 1968. One of their members - Rick Anderson - became the founding bassist for the Tubes.
Continue reading →