Yule Log

If you missed these last time around, grab 'em now and give yerself a swell Christmas present. Hellbound Highway is a private press that shames most major-label productions. If you like Workingman's Dead you'll flip for this. Great songs and playing, with a rhythm section that'll split your head grinning. One of the great treasures dug from the sands of th' Isle O' Foam©, with extry trx and a bonus live album furnished by Four Or Five Guy© Bob. Like, Yulesville!

 

Old Post, New Link Dept. - Rodrigo Amarante

Fans of the Netflix series Narcos may remember the theme song; it sounded like the oldest and saddest song in the world, sung by the world's oldest and saddest man. It was written and sung by Rodrigo Amarante, whose sole solo album, Cavalo, 2013, didn't include it. The album also had no cover, just a plain sleeve with functional lyric inserts. Sometimes, less is less. It seemed like Amarante was going out of his way to keep his work a secret. It worked. I hope he was happy selling five copies, in spite of being Rolling Stone Magazine's sixth best album of that year.

There's one hurdle you have to overcome before you listen to this. It's sung in a mix of Portugese, French, English, and Japanese, and you may be allergic to songs you don't understand. Like, you know, about fifty percent of pop and rock songs sung in English. Louie Louie? What's that about?

Musically, it has an idiosyncratic genius that reminds me - some - of Brian Wilson's Smiley Smile/Friends/Wild Honey period. There's that spare clarity, that same hallucinogenic use of instrumental texture, that same feeling of being conceived in a crystal bubble floating above our world. And the songs, like Wilson's, are very much his own, and couldn't be anyone else's. One listen might make you a fan for life. A frustrated fan wanting more.

I added the Narcos song, Tuyo, and done did him a sleeve design what which I like to think reflects the chromatic brilliance of his music. This is gorgeous stuff.

Old Post, New Link Dept. - The Floyd

I always felt OBC was a near miss. They didn't pay enough attention to the sequencing, there was padding, a lack of flow, etcetera. Long I laboured, and hard, to bring you this, which is a Proper Floyd Album, and directly prefigures Dark Side. I like it better, but I would, wouldn't I?

Caveat Griftor: This is a seamless forty minute mix. You may not have forty minutes.

In a private email, Roger Waters writes thusly:
 
Dear Mr Throckmorton (may one call you Farquhar?)
I was delighted to hear from you that up to five people have downloaded my original version of Meddle [Echoes - see below - Ed.] It took me on quite a trip (no pun intended!) down memory Lane! The "Floyd" [Pink Floyd - Ed.] had just wrapped up recording the soundtrack for some French, or possibly German, film [La Vallée - Ed.][The Valley - Ed.] and had left the project with our esteemed record label while we took off on one of our legendary world tours. Unfortunately we didn't oversee the release, and the track order was apparently decided by some Johnnie in the office. Glum faces all round on our return, I'm afraid! To make matters worse, said office Johnnie had tacked on a few minutes of jungle mumbo-jumbo to make up the rather short running time.

As a private project, over the next few months I laboured to make this sow's ear into the silk purse we all wanted, re-sequencing the songs, splicing and editing, generally sprinkling some studio fairy dust on the whole thing. But recording  Dark Side [Of The Moon - Ed.] of course required all hands on deck, and Bridges [Burning Bridges - Ed.] rather got forgotten in all the excitement. Which is a shame - it is, although one says it oneself, one of our better efforts. Certainly better than any of the miserable stuff we recorded after Dark Side [Of The Moon - Ed.] Cut a long story short, then - get on with it, Waters, I hear you cry! - I was wondering if you'd "play host" to my lost masterpiece on your internet blog? If it meets with as much success as Echoes all my work will have been worth it!


Yours sincerely, Roger [Waters - Ed.]


My pleasure, Mr Waters!

Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein, Talks About The Continued Importance Of The Nation-State As A Political Actor And Dan Hicks And His Hot Licks

You'll know Hans-Adam II [full name Johannes Adam Ferdinand Alois Josef Maria Marco d'Aviano Pius - Ed.], Prince of Liechtenstein [full title Prince of Liechtenstein, Duke of Troppau and Jägerndorf, Count of Rietberg, Sovereign of the House of Liechtenstein- Ed.] from his outspoken views on the continued importance of the nation-state as a political actor, but few know of his enthusiasm for Dan Hicks And His Hot Licks! That's right! Boyishly handsome Hans-Adam [left - Ed.] has been a fan since the early days of the Charlatans! But first, let's hear what he has to say about the continued importance of the nation-state as a political actor - take it away, Hans!

"Firstly, my thanks are due to Farquhar Throckmorton III for allowing me to use th' Isle O' Foam© to make my argument for the continued importance of the nation-state as-"

(Cries of Whipping Post! from audience, tape ends abruptly) Sorry, Hans, that's all we have time for! Five swell long-players today, pals!

EDIT: Hugh Candyside (whose Foley work in Herbie Goes Bananas garnered an Oscar nom) supplies the missing It Happened One Bite in the comments.

Jeffrey Comanor - Man Of Mystery!

He wrote a hit song for England Dan & John Ford Coley which spent six weeks at the top of the Billboard Easy Listening chart. Don't sneer - this kind of moolah sets a guy up for life. You should be so lucky. And talented. He cut three swell albums (I need the second - anybody?), was a Juicy Fruit in Phantom Of The Paradise, and the writer/illustrator of kids' books. What does a guy have to do to get his own Wikipedia page? Beats me.

His first album Sure Hope You'll Like It is generally a fine thing, compromised by a little late sixties sub-Dylan singer-songwriter sincerity, but the third, A Rumor In His Own Time is as perfect as '76 pop-rock gets. He has that rare thing, a naturally likeable singing voice that's a pleasure to listen to, and he can write great songs, and what's the problem here? 

This feature funded in part by the Tremolo Lost Arkives Foundation - thanks, Trem!

James Last - Kaiser Of Krautrock!

The Cosmic Jokers story is worth retelling. Famed German bandleader James Last, wanting to exploit the new underground scene, went into the studio with the core of his touring band and cut the anonymous pseudonymous eponymous first album. "We improvised," he says. "The musicians were qualified professionals and could play anything. We all dressed in the latest mod-style clothing and there was incense. No drugs, of course! We were high on the music!" The album's success took everyone by surprise. "It outsold Swinging Hit Party Favorites, the official James Last album!"

Keeping his identity a secret, Last quickly released a second album, Galactic Supermarket, consisting of outtakes from the sessions. "We could not believe our ears when it entered the pop music charts!" Last says. "There was the big mystery about who the musicians were, and rumors of a tour, and so forth and so on."

The secret was revealed when Last, backed by the "band", appeared on the German T.V. show Teen Disc-Party to publicise the third album, Planeten Sit-In. "I took off my wig and made the peace sign! It was funny!" Alas, the hippies who'd bought the albums didn't get the joke, and the third album stiffed.

Ironically, these three albums, recorded by show-band musicians in their late thirties, stand as prime examples of Krautrock, as adventurous and exciting and as cosmic as "the real thing".

Kreemé's Music For Men! Dept. - Hampton Grease Band

Kreemé auditioning Music To Eat in the IoF Conversation Pit Of Sound™ (artist's impression)

Kreemé [19 my ass - Ed.] has been maintaining a low profile here on th' Isle O'Foam©, but she's been hard at work prepping our swell new FoamFeaturette™, Music For Men, which is dedicated to the type music no broad's going to give ear time, mainly because they have more sense.

Music To Eat is probably the most famous obscure album ever recorded. There's reels of screed about it, mostly reiterating the worst-selling album stories, but it's still hard to find in any form, even as free giveaways, and there's a reason for that. Very few people have listened to it all the way through, and all of them are guys. It makes Trout Mask Replica sound like a greatest show tune hits collection. The problem lies not in the "difficult" compositions - we can all deal with those - but the vocals, which try hard to be confrontational, challenging accepted ideas of what singing is and can be. They play the humor card, too, which is even less convincing. Yet there are still some guys - and they are always guys - digging this stuff, and good luck to them. I'm with Kreemé on this one. Over to you, gal!

"I'm, like ... ew?"

Forgotten Monsters Of The Electric Guitar Dept. - Jerry Hahn

Jerry Hahn sez he ain't give a shit yez ain't heard a him - he ain't heard a youse neither, pally. He's what you might call an early fusion guitarist - go ahead - he can't hear you. Hey - check out the swell cover to his first album [left - Ed.] and guess what year! 67? Damn right! It's raga-tastic! That's Jack De Freaking Johnette on drums, Michael White on violin, Ron McClure on bass. Noel Jewkes on sax? Who he? And more to the point - how come you don't have this album?

Note Jerry's ahead-of-its time insurance salesman look, top center! We can only guess (pretty accurately, I reckon) what caused his overnight change of style to Wild Man Of Borneo [left - Ed.].

Fast-forward to '70 for The Jerry Hahn Brotherhood [left - Ed. Hey, Farq - can you give me something more demanding to do maybe? My education is going to waste in these parentheses] which answers the question on nobody's lips - what would country jazz rock sound like? Nothing like that first album. They wrote some swell songs, sang them in sweet harmony, then got bored with the whole deal and played what the fuck they wanted. Sometimes they didn't all want the same thing at the same time but went ahead anyway. There's a kind of good-natured berserker vibe to this. Three-quarters of the band wear glasses and are bald. There is wah-wah guitar. It is swell.

Jerry emerged briefly from the haze to cut this here third album, Moses, in '73, with the mighty Merl Saunders on organics. Funk beats and that wah gets wahed. A beautiful piece of work, if a tad more conventional than the first two. Sits happily alongside antecedently FoamFeatured™ Howard Roberts albums Equinox Express Elevator and Antelope Freeway. Like, digsville!

Fred MacMurray's Stunt Double Explains Dept. - "Where Steely Dan Went Wrong"

In what promises to be a swell new feature, Fred MacMurray's stunt double Sid Slaw [left - Ed.] takes time out between stunts to explain where major rock, pop, n' roll acts fucked up!

This week, Sid takes a critical look at the career of one of pop music's most feted combos - Steely Dan!

"Hi there, record enthusiasts! Y'know, I meet a lot of lovely little ladies backstage thinking I'm T.V's beloved Fred MacMurray, and I'd have to be some kind of no-good feller to disappoint them! One of the questions I get asked on a regular basis is, gee, Mr. MacMurray, where did so-and-so go wrong?

With Steely Dan, it's a no-brainer! They squandered a real career boost by not exploiting their unreleased tracks! That Citizen Dan box was frankly spitting in the fan's eye! I'd have included the  Yellow Peril album, for starters! Sure, Becker and Fagen railed against bootlegs of these early recordings, but I'm here to tell you they had their heads up each others' asses!"

Thanks, Sid! And you know what, subscribers? Sid's on the money. The whole album is as sweet as honey off a hooker's hooter. It's as real a Dan album as anything else they concocted, with a bunch of first-call session players and swell songs that stand up better than their later stuff, you ask me, when they forgot what a tune was for, the dumb fucks. They should have listened to Sid!

Wilf Brimley's Pstairlift To Psychedelia!© Dept.

Older subscribers will have fond (if confused) memories of Wilf Brimley's popular FoamFeature© Pstairlift To Psychedelia, sponsored by FURTHUR Stairlifts And Step-In Bath Solutions™("One Step Beyond To Senior Mobility And Hygiene!") out of Stain Bottom, FLA. Wilf returns to the Isle O' Foam© with his latest choice of far-out listening! Over to you, Mr. Brimley!

"A high-high howdy-doo to all our subscribers out there on fabulous Foam Island! Taking a magical mystery trip on the sunshine stairlift today is that swell combo, Gale Garnett And The Gentle Reign! This baby gets a regular spin here at the Karmic Rebirth Retirement Home, and I tell ya, I wouldn't have minded giving Miss Gale a spin back in the day! Th' old feller ain't up to more'n a drip n' a tinkle these days. Sometimes I-" [tape ends - Ed.] 

Edit: Sausalito Heliport added to package. Perfect audiophile quality from vinyl!

Something For Sunday Dept. - Art Farmer

Flugelhorn. Crazy word, crazy instrument. Like a trumpet with balls. Hard to imagine any boy telling his Mom, "when I grows up, I'm gonna play th' flugelhorn!" It's the last horn to be chosen in the school marching band. Even the tuba has more glamor. Which is a damn shame, because brother, does it ever make a swell sound!

Art Farmer makes it sound like butter on warm toast. Gorgeous. Both these albums are what passes for rare in these days of internetular abundance. Crawl Space comes adorned with a light sprinkling of vinyl crackles for that authentic analog glow. It's an album you'll cue up, not expecting too much, and find yourself thirty-five minutes later having listened to every note with a smile on your face. Feat. Steve Gadd and Eric Gale, it's an effortlessly cool - the cover shot gets it right - and funkily addictive masterpiece.

Yesterday's Thoughts is more contemplative, with Cedar Walton on piano. You won't play it as often, I suspect, but it's a lovely thing to have.

Saturday Slugfest Dept. - Annette Vs. Van Vliet!

Our postbag has been literally bulging with requests from thousands (Milty and Odorene Thousands, Diesel Falls, NM) to pit perky, toothsome Annette Funicello against snarling, snaggletoothed Captain Beefheart!

The curmudgeonly Captain is represented by this here swell limited edition Clear Spot, sporting a spiffy new cover and an xtry trk what should never of been left off of! 

Meanwhilst,  wholesome gal-next-door Annette chooses her soundtrack to the swell motion picture Pajama Party to go into the cage for her!

Who'll emerge the victor? Who'll be stretchered out? Place your bets in the comments, fight fans!

I.O.F© Exclusive! Neil Young Talks About Rare Gold Rush Track!

The fortieth anniversary edition of After The Gold Rush includes the previously unreleased track Break, a major archive discovery. Neil graciously agreed to be interviewed by valve radio for an Isle O' Foam© exclusive!

FT3: Hey Neil! You're looking great!

NY: Uh, this is radio, man.

FT3: I stuck this picture of Buffalo Springfield over the speaker. When you were great!

NY: Can we talk about the track? I'm really proud of Break. Not even the bootleggers knew about this one. Took everyone by surprise! [laughs - Ed.]

FT3: I just listened to it. Kinda puzzled?

NY: Right! David Briggs produced it. It's just me and my guitar, man. Purity. I wanted space, you know?

FT3: You and your guitar? I'm not hearing that. Or anything.

NY: Me and my guitar, sitting there in the studio, everything turned off. I wanted to turn everything off, see how the world would sound with everything turned off. Noise is pollution, man. Electricity is pollution. It was gonna be one side of the album. It's edited down from, I think, twenty minutes? Nearly twenty minutes. That's what I wanted. One side of, like, total ... uh. David [Briggs - Ed.] edited it down, and then it was kinda lost. But I found it again! The whole track. Gonna release it on the next Archives set. There'll be this, the single edit, and the original album version. Maybe a stereo remix.

FT3: Friend of mine [jcc - Ed.] says it's better than anything on Greendale.

NY: We're gonna tour it. The Break Tour. Me and Pancho and Lefty and Dozy and Grumpy. To empty halls, we're not allowing audiences in because Covid.

FT3: Well, that's one silver lining right there. Hey, I have to go, Neil - microwave just pinged.

NY: Microwaves are destroy- [tape break here - Ed.]

As a Foam Exclusive, the track Break is available to download in the comments.

Pretty Kinky Dept.

None more black! This here is the 1970 double vinyl-style Kinks kompendium (hey - they should of called it that) what has accrued beaucoup kudos for sound kuality. After decades of trying to enjoy their albums, I toe the "singles band" line when it comes to these guys, and this is a nifty-swell agglomeration of the art of the 45rpm at which they excelled. They had a greater run of Top Ten hits than The Beatles, invented the heavy metal riff, were the first band to use a sitar sound (before anyone had a sitar), and in Ray Davies had a songwriter without peer - like a sharper, literate, homelier McCartney. But they suffered from brotherly hate, the shittiest of shit labels, a showband rhythm section, and - in spite of many fans' klaims to the kontrary - a fundamental inability to come up with an album you don't have to make excuses for.

The Pretty Things, meanwhilst, had everything except songs. They had the sound, the chops, the aggression, the long hair (before anyone else but the Charlatans, a universe away). Ray Davies should have been their songwriter. This collection is, again, a vinyl double much feted for its audiophile fidelity. Even at the telephone-call quality I.O.F© bitrate, it sounds just swell, and quit yer whinin'.

I've seen both these bands live. The Kinks were cynical, hateful, audience-baiting, bitter. The Pretties gave it all they had, like they always did.

Great Klassix Of Literature Out Th' Ass Dept. - Wensdy Crumbtacular!

Guys wit' a yen fer betterin' themselfs in th' book-learnin' line are well adviced to profit from today's swell Free Offer! Increase yer word (an' pitcher!) power by perusin' the two - count 'em - two primo publications from noted heducater an' Authority on th' Female Form, R. Crumb©.

Yup, subscribers, yours for th' takin' are two issues of th' noted intellectual review Motor City Comics, which may be all what wus published. Gals! Dope! Big asses! Brutal suppression of th' workin' stiff by fascist pigs! Oboy!

Open The Pod Bay Doors Dept.

Hal proved that making albums overflowing with fantastic, hooky songs just ain't enough. Nor is great singing and playing, apparently. Nor is a sparkling, lush, full production. What does it take? Beats me. Here's a couple of swell long-playing record albums that'll have you sobbing "I give up! The world is nuts!"

From Ireland, with a distinctly West Coast pop vibe, this is gorgeous, seemingly effortless music that'll make you despair of the biz called show.

First eponymous album from 2004, followed eight furshlugginer years later by their second. The whole thing is just baffling, because a couple of songs into their first album you'll be a Hal Fan for life. Trust me, goddammit!

Somethin' For Sunday Dept. - Antonio Carlos Jobim

Born in New York's charming Bronx quarter, "Little Tony" Czobimski sang street corner doo-wop and ran errands for the Kosher Nostra Elk's Club, a local charitable organisation. His smooth bossa take on doo-wop standards was - and still is - ahead of its time.

Avoiding the draft by getting a cap in the ass during a craps game, "Little Tony" changed his name to Jobim [Spanish - bum - Ed.], cut the soles off his shoes, sat in a tree and learned to play the flute. The rest is history.

Here's three of his swellest album recordings. Whether your Sunday is spent quietly at home with the family, pottering around the yard in your robe, going to church, or simply getting fisted by a Ukranian abductee in a white van parked on the airport perimeter, these long-playing records will provide that breezy ambience to make your day special!

Hipster Mohican Airbrushed Out Of The Big Picture Again

Alan Douglas. There, I said his name because nobody else will, apparently. This here album, and its tense recording session, garners beaucoup worthy screed, but the producer rarely (if ever, as far as I can see) gets kudos for bringing Ellington and Mingus together. Douglas (who also helmed the uber-swell Bill Evans album Undercurrent) will remain misunderstood and under-appreciated, because he didn't fit. Part huckster, part hipster (in the old sense), part grifter, and maybe part genius, he's forever on the periphery of jazz and rock, which maybe isn't such a bad place to be. He's at home on th' Isle O' Foam©, leastways.

This is one iconic classic album classic album icon. I ain't heard it yet, because I'm upping the 320 for youse wine-sippin' snobs who reckon they can tell the diff before I stomp it down to a sustainable 192.

Spin your propellor beanies in Scotch's direction for this one!

Country Rock "Cure For Pfizer Vaccine" - Study

Brewer & Shipley are brothers, born to Nate and Geraldine Barnstruther, of the Sow Gulch (IA) Barnstruthers. They showed a propensity for music at an early age, performing at the Iowa State Fair as The Barnstruther Boys. Brewer tapdanced while Shipley played the Swanee Whistle. "Dem wus great days!" laughs Brewer today.

As luck would have it, their act was seen by a vacationing David Geffen, who signed the boys up on the spot. "It was their energy," Geffen muses today, "their sense of showmanship. But mostly their short pants, freckles, and tow-headed charm."

Changing their name from The Barnstruther Boys to Brewer and Shipley, the showbiz siblings released a series of swell country rock albums which you'd be a dope not to have in your collection. Their single One Toke Over The Line became a hit when adopted as the theme song for T.V.'s popular pre-dawn show The Couch Potato starring Henry Winkler as "Bupkiss".

Today's Country Rock Cornucopia© features Tarkio, Down In L.A., Weeds, Rural Space, Shake Off The Demon, and maybe a live recording in a shit cover.

Post made possible by Silt County's World Famous Corn King© - "The King Of Corn™". 

To Infinnerty - And Beyond!

Barry Finnerty's astonishing axe-wrenching has been FoamFeatured© antecedently, on the swell Davis comeback album Th' Guy Wit' Th' Boner. Apparently he turned down an offer to tour with the man, choosing to remain loyal to his commitment to The Crusaders. He regrets this now, as you would, but it was an honorable thing to do in a business where honor isn't generally required - or particularly valued. It's my guess The Crusaders would have entirely understood if he bailed. But Finnerty went on to an impeccable professional career anyway.

He's in the same bag as Mike Stern, John McLaughlin and John Scofield, and if you like dose guys you'll love Finnerty. He's clearly an academic musician, a respected tutor and writer on the subject, but he's also a wildly exciting player (unlike Scofield, who sends me to sleep). Infinity is my title and cover for a German compilation Space Age Blues which managed to look like shit and spell his name wrongly and repeatedly in the liner notes. Heavy Metal Be-Bop is him with the Brecker Brothers, from '78. Like, digsville!

Feat. Th' Feat!

How Little Feat got hooked up with jazzbo traps-smacker Chico Hamilton in '73 is shrouded in mystery. Perhaps they met at a craps game, or a lemonade stand. We just don't know. Also a mystery is why the album was allowed out in this beyond-wretched sleeve. Who in his right mind would want to look at this for more than, like, one tenth of a second? *shudder*

Lowell George, Paul Barrere, Kenny Gradney, Sam Clayton and Bill Payne are all over this, like white on rice. Weirdly, Richard Hayward didn't get the call, which is a shame, because he's a better drummer. You'd of thunk Chico would of realised this, but no. Maybe Hayward had a cold or something. We just don't know. Sweet funky jamming album, though but. Like, digsville!

Another mystery is how in the same year - between Dixie Chicken and Feats Don't Fail Me Know, when their career wasn't exactly in a trough, th' Feat also found the time to sit in on Kathy Dalton's album Amazing. There are several amazing things about this album, the most being its complete inability to amaze on any level. Not only does the best band in the world get to play, she's supported by cameos from Van Dyke Parks, Carl Wilson, and a top-dollar list of sessioners, on Zappa's DiscReet label. So it should be very nearly the best album, like, ever, right? Wrong. What we get is a competent bag of generic pop-rock tunes, which Kathy has a tendency to over-sing. Who's to blame? Step up Greg Dempsey, writer and producer. He was also part of the go-nowhere hippie duo Daughters Of Albion with - you guessed it - Ms. Dalton. He never worked again.

Last amazing fact about this album - it was released twice, under different titles with a meaningless track substitution, in equally repellent covers. Check out her beyond-awkward pose on the mustard n' ketchup Boogie Bands & One-Night Stands [left - Ed.]. Yeeuch. Dalton was one swell-looking dame - how could they get it so very wrong, twice? Anyway, it nosedived into the cut-out bins both times. Amazing!