A sample of some obscure – and some maybe not obscure – tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.

Today’s selection: Hawkwind - Orgone Accumulator

Seems last week's selection was substandard so I'll try something a bit different this week.

Orgone: "a pseudoscientific concept variously described as an esoteric energy or hypothetical universal life force"
Orgone Accumulator: a device invented by Wilhelm Reich in the 1930s to collect and concentrate life energy.

Off Hawkwind's 1973 live album "Space Ritual"

Called "cosmic rock"; a bit harder in nature than psychedelia. Well - maybe a lot harder.
Crank it up and dance like nobody's sober ...

Hawkwind is blessed by none other than Lone Star Parson

Some comments:
- They're not THAT bad, but definitely an acquired taste kind of band.
- Weird and not on my playlist, but if you're driving down the road and it comes on, you can change the station.
- It's not exactly "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun"
- They were an acid biker thing back in the day, and you can see why. I like a blast of it now and again.
- OK - it's just me, but both "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" and "Orgone Accumulater" are among my favorites.

And I have to agree with the last comment ... and I have more Hawkwind selections for the future playlist :)

A sample of some obscure – and some maybe not obscure – tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.

Today’s selection: Artemas "I Like The Way You Kiss Me" 2024

Not everything I have is from the 20th century ... I'm with it - I even have a "smart" phone ... (I think I can find it).

Not so obscure, the tune was written by Artemas Diamandis, an Englishman with a Greek name and hit the Top 10 in Europe and Top 20 in the US. I forget where I first heard it.

The associated video is not to my taste but I like the tune.

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.

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.