the first stone

If you feel like any of the content here is infringing on yr copy and or birthrights, please let me know before you flag it, I can remove the link. However, please understand that all shared content here is mp3 recordings of well used 45s, and in no way outshine an original/authorized mp3 version of the song.

FYI::>

All mixes are cut into individual tracks that have id3 tags. You just download the .zip file and drag the tracks into iTunes and they will play as a mix or separately.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

L'trimm- CARS THAT GO BOOM


Damn they sexy!!! This one back by request, but here is a link to (where I got the pic) a bootyclub remix that is also pretty hot. You can read more about the ladies here, but this has to be one of the most original yet imitated songs and sounds of miami bass movement. Listen to it loud, not on yr computer speakers, and feel that sub bass. This kills any party, gets the ladies bouncin and shakin, the only problem being they might ask you to play it again.

L'Trimm and "Cars that Go Boom"

The Tidal Waves- BIG BOY PETE

This is a pretty classic psychedelic cover of the ever-romping Big Boy Pete. I had no idea these guys looked so fuckin goofy. I couldn't find out much about them except that they opened for Sam the Sham. The Olympics had a mild hit with the song, before it was reworked by the kingsmen into "Jolly Green Giant." It seems like the kingsmen's sound was prolly more the inspiration for this version, with ramped up guitars and oversung vocals, but also the Grateful Dead covered this a lot in the early garage days. It's a perfect fit for any garage/retro night, esp coupled with Mitch Ryder or even something by Junior Parker, due to the shouting storytelling or barroom drunken delivery. But, like any good song, it has a moral: don't be flashin or packin unless you can take the action.

The Tidal Waves with "Big Boy Pete"

Clarence Fountain- CONFUSING TIMES

Mr. Fountain was an original member of the Blind Boys of Alabama. He went solo cause he knew his shit was hot, and this soulful gospel ballad on jewel from 1965 (before he left the band) demonstrates his ability to crossover into a more mainstream feel. This song captures the mood of these confusing times and while it doesn't make you wanna holler, you will def sit back and let them tears well up inside. He doesn't offer hope, he is just tellin it like it is, was and always will. I will post some other gospel gems and jewels, but here is another one by him from a little later I found on another blog.

Clarence Fountain sings "Confusing Times"

Wet Bull- STRUTTIN'


I can't find out anything about this band, or this track (I was lucky enough to find someone selling it on ebay for the pic). The song's not an obvious hit but it has a really hard funk edge to it: punchy horns, shotgun meets p-funk bass and guitar lines, pre-cameo vocals with a bit of humor, all over a strut 2-step disco beat. Its a hard hit on the dance floor, better than some other pushy strut/hustle songs, because somehow the idea of a sassy lassy with well equiped hips flows straight into the mix. Its a good transition to more rocky funk, or even to faster electro funk, going out of the souldrums into the coked-up fantasy dancing.

Wet Bull is "Struttin"

Eartha Kitt- SHO-JO-JI


This song skirts between kinderlied and completely racist. SHO-JO-JI is a hungry raccoon who loves macaroons, jellybeans and pink spumoni, don't we all. I go crazy for the swingin Spike Jones-esque horn line and the "Chinese" soprano voice mixed with the "Chinese" pentatonic strings. But like everything Eartha touches, it has extreme self-awareness and sexuality that lets you know she's nobody's fool, and if she is, it's cause mama needs a new fur coat.

Eartha Kitt and "Sho-Jo-Ji"

Friday, April 18, 2008

The Romeos- PRECIOUS MEMORIES



I love the feel of this track. A perfect Sunday afternoon instrumental that goes from pensive to latin at the drop of a hat. The interplay of the trilling piano chords and the booker t style guitar comping is amazing. I always thought of this as more garage, but it seems leon haywood had his hands in the making of this, and the band was some how related to the packers, another l.a. soul instrumental group. This a great song to begin the night with, or wind down to. The session feel is flawless, like they are equally at home with floyd cramer and stax. I love it when he yells out at the end in response to his piano line "heres some salsa, squeeze everything you got."

The Romeos with "Precious Memories"

Shirley Ellis-THE CLAPPING SONG


The original video is amazing, but as youtube continually redefines context and culture, here is an even better version (white boy dancing in Canadian mall). Shirley Shirley Shirley, what can I say. Every time this song hits the magnets people go crazy (especially the girls). Its one of those appex songs of the night, that I try to time exactly right, to get the most appeal. If it hits (and it always does), then I can get away with murder the rest of the night. This little gal is responsible for some of the top ear worm hits of the 60's, the name game, nitty gritty, etc. and they all make you wanna throw yr arms up in the air. I was also told this song is featured on a doc about scratching, I would love to hear what they do with it.

Shirley Ellis doing "The Clapping Song"

Tina B-HONEY TO A BEE

My Friend Zack pulled this original promo single out of a wall of records, neither of us the wiser until we put it on. Amazing sampling keyboard bee sounds and anthemic cheese synth hook line with with extremely childish and confused vocals ('like honey to a bee, yr love will stick to me'-I am not sure thats the exact relationship of honey and bees). People always ask me if this is Madonna, it could be, but its a little too far out for that, the production is a little too lo-fi (yes!) and the beat is a little too danceable. Here is a link I found to a DJ remix of it, probably better than the original though the original has all the charm of a teenage girl who only wears one earring.

T-T-Tina B.- Honey to a Bee

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Moonrakers-LOVE TRAIN


Ah, perhaps the only good band to ever come out of Denver, Colorado. I bought this record at a fair by chance, and was amazed at how good it really is. Pure pyschedelia: rippin guitar, pounding drums, and reverb/delay harmonica, what more do you need? Not to be confused with the famous O'Jays' track, this song is on a different trip, though I would love to hear what kind of Philly soul rendition they would have done. I don't know much about the band except that they are the pride of Wax Trax, the record store in Denver that I spend most of my time at when there. With so many singles (walls and a basement), how could you resist? Read a little bit more about this obscure Denver 'artyfact' here.


Moonrakers and "Love Train"

Faust- EXTRACT 4

This is a single released by ReR records, something I am extremely lucky to have. Both sides are great, but this "Extract 4" has more prog to it so I can get away with playing it live. This is krautrock at its finest, maybe not the song, but the band. I highly recommend any of their old records if you are just getting into the genre. Faust was kind of a super band, hand chosen so to speak, but now they have divided into 2 different bands that fight over rights and tours etc. Its sad when demi-stardom destroys a band, especially one as obscure yet important as they are. Its funny, cause I play this at indie rock nights as well as kind of arty bullshit parties, no one seems to notice or care. But I do remember one old man coming up and giving me a thumbs up (though he did that every time I played anything old and proggy, like Focus or Can).

Faust with "Extract 4"

Cy Coleman- SWEET PUSSYCAT

Part of my "pussy" related collection, this song is a cool instrumental with breathy female vocals that highlight the organ melody (I'm a pussycat, sweet, sweet, pussycat). It has a great chromatic build up and is a perfect lounge background. I often start a slow night with this song, or slip it in near the end, just to sleaze and cheese things up a bit. I know nothing about the man excpet he did some famous broadway songs and duets, but here is more info.

Cy Coleman playing "Sweet Pussycat"

Dave and Ansil Collins- DOUBLE BARREL



Dave and Ansil Collins were early seventies session guys working with Lee Perry and others. This song is a classic ska-reggae-rockover that brought them to international success. This video is pretty funny but the song hits hard every time. I DJed this last week at a kind of emo indie night, just to see what would happen, and the little kiddies went crazy, they even started a conga line (why I don't know, and in hindsight I am a bit ashamed). It just goes to show, watch each card you play and play it slow. Classic feel here, great organ work. The mimicking melodic patterns with different synths almost give it a playground feel.

Dave and Ansil Collins with "Double Barrel"

Al Dexter- PISTOL PACKIN MAMA

This song is a classic, not only for its violent yet playful message, but also for the instrumentation and style. Not yr typical country, it has a more mexi-cali feel, with the trumpet and the accordion borrowing from the vocal lead. Many people have covered this, but the original is still the best. It more or less tells of an unrelenting ladies man that gets killed by his jealous woman after promising never to go pussy-huntin again. The final tag (as from the tombstone) being "Now there goes Al Dexter, he always had his fun, but with some lead she shot him dead, his honkin days are done." Perfect addition to any party or drinkin night, its fun but a little sick, the way we po-mo party people like it.

Al Dexter singin "Pistol Packin Mama"

Chicken y Sus Comandos- LAS MUJERES DE TABASCO


This is the best pic I could find of these guys. I don't know what to say except this is a really fun Ranchera style song with all of the stereotypical Mexican yelps over the guitar and accordion interludes. I remember playing this song in my car one night and this old Mexican guy got out of his car and started dancing and singing along. I was a bit embarrassed at first, but then I realized that can only be a good thing. Its even funnier of course when Germans dance to it, and for some reason its more a hit with drunk men then whimen. I guess tha ladies like more classic "Latin" tracks, something with more of a big band or something, but this is a good drunken fiesta hit. I have only met a few women from Tabasco, but they all lived up to the description in the song.

Chicken y Sus Comandos playing "Las Mujeres de Tabasco"

Psychic TV-GODSTAR



Here is an anthem for 80's misanthropes like me. A tribute to The Rolling Stones Brian Jones. I love this song, not only for its message and this bizarre video my friend Sammy showed me, but for the lavish and dripping synth (think wine spilled from a gold goblet onto the the table cloth) and pushy yet semi-conventional backbeat. The song is a relatively harmless tribute, but there is an overwhelming melancholy and longing that lacks in so much music from this time, even the darker synth goth that often tries too hard. Raise yr fist and drink to the man who truly made the Rolling Stones the living lizards they are today. And if you want something to really blow yr mind, check out Brian Jones Presents The Pipes Of Pan At Joujouka.

Psychic TV with "Godstar"

Speedy West/Jimmy Bryant- SANDY CANYON SWING

These boys made some of rippin'-est western swing tracks the west has ever seen. The kooky and springy pedal steel of Speedy mixed with the 'take off guitar' telecaster style of Bryant is the perfect combination for any event. Besides DJing them at fashion shows or dingy bars, I put them on to clean my apartment, have a dinner party, or just to dance around in my underwear. They are seriously from another world, but not 'a session musicians gone wrong' world, something much more wholesomely fucked up than that. They put the giddy back into giddy up. Here is them backing up Tennessee Ernie Ford on Youtube.

Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant doing "Sandy Canyon Swing"

Snakefinger- THE SPOT

Snakefinger, Residents guitarist extraordinaire, has such a unique approach and tone. Many people find his disjointed rhythmic sense and phrasing to be "too quirky" or "pretentious" but I love it. His attempt at virtuosity and camp is well appreciated, though often not on the dance floor. I will play this one just to make sure people are paying attention, and there is always some guy that comes up to say that its too loud (he always wants "more old school, dude"), and another guy (the weirdo with glasses that has been at the corner table all night) that says finally a song he can dance to. You know who will win of course (the ladies, but not the 80's ladies-that gets tiresome fast).

Snakefinger with "The Spot"

Professor Morrison's Lollipop- YOU GOT THE LOVE

Professor Morrison's Lollipop was the original name of the Coachmen who then split off into a bunch of Buddah groups (Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus, 1910 Fruitgum Co, etc). This song is a simple beat song that just rocks. Its a hit with the ladies, kind of pre-psychedelia that is easy to get into, with revved up guitars, and repetitive vocals. Definitely one of the hits that keeps coming back. This one goes out to a little lady of my past.

Professor Morrison's Lollipop with "You Got The Love"

The Champs- MIDNIGHTER

The Champs were a session band best known for their smash hit "Tequila". I go wild for this side because of the more raw and throaty sax sound that seems some how less 'square' than the other proto-rock/surf/boogie instrumentals I have. Maybe its because I think of "Tequila" as a limbo game song, or some kind of forced nostalgia, but the rhythm of this song takes that beach party feel a little further, especially the drums and the guitar. This will kill any dance floor, I don't care how cool the people think they are, arms and hips start swingin and feet start stompin.

The Champs with "Midnighter"