Core Four Dept. - Th' Doobies

One a year, 72-75. Business as usual back then, unbelievable now.

 

The Warner Bros. label back then was a guarantee of swell entertainment, recording-wise. Quality all down the line - sharp A&R men picking up exciting talent, great bands making great records in beautiful sleeves. I mean, gee whiz! The Doobies were rightly seen as essential investments, albums you'd spend a lot of time with, get a lot out of. I still do, over fifty freaking years later. Although they did some other good stuff, these four are the core. The band was always more concerned with making you feel as good as they did, rather than being cool. They were right.

(I just wanted to see something great at the top of the blog, as I'll be stepping back a little, again, again!)

Albums What Never Was But Should Of Dept. - Shirley And Dolly Collins

Sleeve reconstruction incorporates RI Technology (Real Ignorance™)

Back in 1979, the Collins Sisters career was at a crossroads. Their first two albums on Harvest garnered mildly enthusiastic reviews, but sales were disappointing. Sales figures went into the red after thousands of disappointed prog fans returned their copies. Their third album on the trend-setting Topic label suffered from poor promotion (a postcard in the window of their local Post Office) and led to a long hiatus.

SC Dolly had substance issues, basically.

DC (laughs) Substance issues! My goodness!

SC And we got a "bad rep" for leaving hotel rooms a little untidy.

DC Shirl threw her zither into the pool! (does rock and roll "horns" gesture)

SC Happy days! 

FT3 So you decided to up your game?

SC We heard Grandmaster Flash and his Wheels Of Steel on the wireless, and it was like a revelation!

DC It was the new folk music! Music of the common man!

SC We decided there and then to record our own "rap gangster" long-player!

FT3 Apparently it was a step in the wrong direction for the neckbeards at Topic?

DC They refused to release it. It was a bitter disappointment.

FT3 Could you still perform the material today?

(The ladies gather around the harmonium)

It was on September morning my love he did make bold

Arrayed in costly pantaloons and rings of solid gold

He gaily threw me in the boot of his German limousine

O shut the fuck up bitch you my ho now I gonna treat you mean

With a hey nonny nonny ho and a rilly down dilly-o

Shoot this shit and swallow this pilly-o

Smack up my bitch-o gonna get rich-o

With a rilly-dilly-dillyo you my ho

This post blessed by the pontifical intercession of Pope Prius IX

 

Perfect Tens Dept. - Headhunters

So now we know!

"The image on Herbie Hancock’s 1973 Head Hunters album cover is based on an African mask associated with the Baoulé tribe from the Ivory Coast, used in times of danger, during epidemics or at funeral ceremonies. The image also resembles the tape head demagnetizer used on reel-to-reel audio tape recorders."

Designer Victor Moscoso brilliantly destroyed the cultural gap between indigenous tribal rhythms and electro-funk by creating this unforgettable image.

 

 

 

The sonic and optic impact this album had back in '73 is impossible to appreciate in this diminished age. It leaped from the racks and slapped you upside yo hade in a post-psychedelic day-glo dazzle. I was, like, literally, what the actual fuck? I literally was! Like! For once, the music was as shockingly new as the cover, and as effortlessly creative and ground-breakingly commercial. Look, let's face it, jazz is mostly boring as shit. And Herbie Hancock playing the fucking piano is as boring as shit gets. But when he followed Miles' [Davis - trumpet player - Ed.] advice and sat on his left hand he became the dancin' shaman o' funk. The album isn't really a Herbie album - he's integral to the Headhunters, one of the greatest bands of all time. This is timeless, beautiful, joyous and funky music for whatever godforsaken age you're living in. For those with any stuff left at all, now is the time to strut it.

 

This post funded in part by Solly And Sarah Sebag's Sebum City©, Carbapenem, CA

Re-Up Request Dept. - Viva Saturn

Sleeve exhumation and reconstruction by FMF© Department of Art Department

Géraldine asks nicely for a re-up of a genuine FoamExclusive©, which I'm happy to fulfil. The original post is here, and well worth a read, but let's talk about Géraldine, who is possibly unique. On account which what? Here's her Blogger profile (I always look, because that's why they're there - it's not snooping!):

Géraldine has been on Blogger for eleven (count 'em!) years, and in all that time has had only two profile views. Which are both mine. The second because I couldn't believe the first. And now I can't believe the second (you can see where this is going).

So what I'm suggesting is that you, th' Four Or Five Guy©, click on her name in the comments (you'll have to go to the original post to do that, which may be beyond your pay grade and/or attention span, you simpering pantaloon) and give her page views a burst of popularity. (Don't get your hopes up, Géraldine, th' 4/5g© are an indigent bunch of lazy-ass merry-andrews.)

 

THIS JUST IN:

 

 

Link in comments.
 

Surfeiting On Superfluity Dept. - Nobody Needs A Skin Alley Box Set So Here It Is

See? They got, like, this naked chick, okay, and projected themselves on her bod? Why don't today's bands do this?

The thing to do with this is to start with their last album, Skin Tight. It's a nice set of country rock songs recorded in Memphis and Nashville for the Stax label. Don Nix produced (whom you should know, ya doofus). Top-tier vocals, guitar, plush strings and funky horns. There's really nothing wrong with it, apart from the drummer, who needs a good talking-to, and the la-las, but to read the online reviews, especially at Greatcoat Misery progarchives, you'd think the band bombed an orphanage. This is because it was a sudden lane swerve from their established rock/prog/jazz direction, and like so many similar attempts only alienated old fans without picking up new ones. So give it a listen. It's no lost classic, but doesn't deserve to be lost completely. It could have been a fine and moderately successful first album for another band, but for the Skinnys it was their last album and a dump-bin nosedive. The band split up, finding work in industrial carpet cleaning, vinyl upholstery repair, forklift certification, customer greeting at Walmart, and supporting Stray.

Although I didn't think so at the time, this is an excellent cover and has lasted well.

 

Skin Alley (I wonder why they didn't call themselves Beef Curtains?) were a product of the late 'sixties UK counter-culture (don't snicker, it was a groovy scene), scoring a major-label deal - back when a major-label deal was a major deal - for their first album [above - Ed.] in '69 or whenever it was [CORRECT DATE PSE ED!] [Fuck you, and fuck off - Ed.].  Living In Sin, a great song and shouldabin single, featured on the unbelievably influential - for me, at least - Fill Your Head With Rocks comp. The band gigged festivals and the prestigious Polytechnic Ents Committee circuit, and the album sold enough for the suits at CBS to give them another chance, which they regretted, denying to their US bosses they'd even heard of the band and blaming it on Dave in the post room.

What's that thing in the middle? If you knew, you knew. Shews influence of Rick Griffin, not that you care, you dozy merry-andrew.

To Pagham And Beyond is one of the all-time greatest album titles. It's not, unfortunately, one of the all-time greatest albums, except if you wear an army surplus greatcoat and frown at everything. It's not full-blown prog, and thank Christ for that (I have to thank him for something), but its eclectic mixture of influences and swell jazzy interplay are more than enough to warrant that crucial second spin on th' Consolette. You will dig this waxing and certainly not regret downloading it.

Sleeve design by Edward Barker, one of the few UK underground cartoonists to make any money at all. I like it. It has the simplicity of the first two albums, and it's funny, especially if you're stoned. Cheese ... yeah, ri-right ...

In an unlikely label jump, they moved to Stax for the third album. The prog elements were sidelined - not a Stax thing, apparently - for a mainstream rock approach that had the prog fans sneering. La-las notwithstanding, Two Quid Deal? is a creditable album nearly impossible to not enjoy, in spite of the drummer's dogged insistence on keeping the fiddly prog æsthetic alive. Accordion hoedown!

This post relied on the support of the murmuration of swallows.