Visiting my parents for the week so I raided my dad's very hip CD collection. Listened to these while catching up on work:
Sam Butera - Hot New Orleans Nights
Mostly instrumental ‘50s jazz/R&B workouts from Louis Prima’s sax man. Plenty of red-hot blowers to recommend this one, it pairs nicely with Big Jay McNeely’s “Welcome to California” or even Jimmy Smith’s “Back at the Chicken Shack” though lighter in weight. The few vocal numbers are a welcome change of pace when they do pop up, feeling like guest appearances during a long, sweaty late night revue.
Jeff Dahl - Back at The Devil Tree Ranch
Acoustic album on Triple X by Angry Samoans and Vox Pop alum Jeff Dahl. The guy has released countless records, collaborating with Cheetah Chrome, Deniz Tek, and Poison Idea to name a few. This album finds him mining rootsier ground, with Johnny Thunders’ “Hurt Me” as a clear lighthouse. Rough-hewn and unpretentious, without any of the “grown up” sentimentality that can sometimes bleed into an acoustic record by a rocker with a punk rep (a John Doe solo album this is not). “Friends Like These” sounds like if Jim Carroll had soundtracked Grand Theft Parsons. Solid record but it loses a little steam towards the end.
The Johnny Otis Show - Cold Shot
Very live-feeling, bawdy R&B and blues document circa ’68 featuring the titular Johnny’s superstar son, Shuggie. While Shuggie’s guitar work is tasteful, it’s the soulfully lecherous vocals courtesy of Delmar "Mighty Mouth" Evans that shine here. This album is like the slicker cousin to “House of the Blue Lights” by Don Covay & The Jefferson Lemon Blues Band, released the following year. In spite of the flower power album cover, there’s not much late ‘60s psychedelia to be heard here. Aside from the occasional blue humor (which peters out after the first few tracks), this is a fairly straightforward exercise. Perhaps sensing that formalism wasn’t going to be their meal ticket, the JOS morphed into Snatch and the Poontangs for a much more explicit (and fun) outing the following year.
Fanny - Rock and Roll Survivors Live Opera 1974
Rough, hissing recording of a Whisky A-Go-Go set that kicked off a US tour. Dramatic and dynamic opening suite that lands near Cockney Rebel’s “The Psychomodo” and “Tiger Rock” by Tiger B. Smith. There’s some charmingly hacked-out blues riffage, bizarrely chunky organ tones, and lots of shouting in harmony. After the 3-track introduction, the “opera” part of the program seems to begin in earnest. There are weird spoken word interjections that bridge heavy rock bashing and piano-led balladry, weaving together a sort of loose narrative. It’s like if “Tommy” were a raunchy, feminist assault narrated in rhyme with a strangely folksy, sing-song affect. The track “Rock and Roll Survivors” is a temporal way station between Lou Reed and Patti Smith’s heroin chic cautionary tales that manages to deliver on the hard rock front at the same time. The liner notes explain that there was an elaborate stage show involved as well, which I’m sure rocked just as righteously.
