Gratuitous Bikini Babe reveals ass, thoughts, yesterday. Foam-O-Graph© - "A Poke In Th' Third Eye!"™ |
Remember [asks Steve Shark - Ed.] the original Nuggets album – a double disc, twenty-seven track compilation of psychedelic-era music on the very hip Elektra label?
Amongst classics by the Standells, The Seeds and Count Five, there was a track by The Knickerbockers called Lies, which sounded almost exactly like the Beatles [who? - Ed.]. It was a great little piece of pop music and I thought it was just about the best track the Fab Four never recorded.So that’s what this latest contribution to Th' Isle O'Foam© is all about – ten of the best tracks never recorded by better known acts. Some very obvious and well known, others less so, but all, I hope, of some merit.
WARNING: You are entering a parody free zone!
The Beatles/The Knickerbockers Lies
Written by the Knicks’ Beau and Buddy in an hour with the intention of writing something Beatleish. They succeeded – it’s got “John” on vocals and very Ringo-alike drumming. Catchy.
Steely Dan/Monkey House Where’s Mantis Evar?
Little Feat/Wet Willie Leona
The Rolling Stones/The Chesterfield Kings Walkin’ Blues
Steely Dan/Monkey House Where’s Mantis Evar?
A very obvious homage to Fagen and the Dan with all the requisite ingredients: Carltonesque guitar fills, harmonies, horn charts and metronomic drumming, all brought together courtesy of the Breithaupt Brothers, who are well worth checking out. Indeed, they’ve been known to cover the odd Fagen song. Smooth.
The Byrds/The Lemon Pipers Through With You
The Byrds/The Lemon Pipers Through With You
Impressive stuff from a band who had to carry the “bubblegum” label to get ahead. This is a 9 minute freak out with lots of 12 string guitar, insane stereo panning, ethereal vocals and a raga feel that you can smoke banana skins to. Groovy.
Free/Cry of Love Bad Thing
Free/Cry of Love Bad Thing
A sparse but macho strut redolent of one of the UK’s finest rock bands. The bass and drums interplay is appropriately “free”. Guitarist Audley Freed went on to become a Black Crowe. Tumescent.
The Beach Boys/The High Llamas Nomads
The Beach Boys/The High Llamas Nomads
If the vocals were just a bit richer, this could well be a “Pet Sounds” outtake – dig the trombones and banjo! The BB’s management was very interested in some sort of collaboration with the band’s eminence gris Sean O’Hagan, but it came to nothing in spite of a few meetings. Mellow.
Cream/Mountain Theme For An Imaginary Western
Cream/Mountain Theme For An Imaginary Western
A gorgeous Jack Bruce and Pete Brown composition that really should have been recorded by Cream, and might have rejuvenated the band after Clapton got tired of 16 minute jams. Mountain’s version is very Cream like although Jack’s solo version is also great. Poignant.
Little Feat/Wet Willie Leona
More Bill than Lowell Feat. Featuring [ISWYDT - Ed.] Jimmy Hall who went on to make some great solo albums, it has a Dixie Chicken riff, slide guitar and some suitably exuberant vocals. OK, it ain’t the Feat, but it’s neat! Down home.
Bruce Springsteen/Jackie Leven Call Mother a Lonely Field
Bruce Springsteen/Jackie Leven Call Mother a Lonely Field
I didn’t realise that the late Leven (previously with Doll by Doll) was a Bruce fan until after I chose this track. It’s BITUSA style “Boss” and has that same grandiose vibe and even a crashing drum intro. Please bear with the strange bar noises and singing at the start, it’s well worth the wait! Anthemic.
The Rolling Stones/The Chesterfield Kings Walkin’ Blues
The vocals aren’t very Jagger-like, although they do have a certain gonzo charm all of their own, but it has that “Exile” atmosphere – dragged out pale, naked and blinking into the daylight from the depths of a damp and fetid cellar somewhere in the south of France – merde alors! Even more ragged than Exile’s “Stop Breakin’ Down”, you can imagine Mick Taylor on slide and t’other Mick on harp. Subterranean.
Miles Davis/Freddie Hubbard Mr Clean
Miles Davis/Freddie Hubbard Mr Clean
How Miles might have sounded had he not drank quite so much of that brew back in 1970, it features an all-star band, with plenty of “WTF was that?” moments to keep it from being just another Creed Taylor production. Nice keyboard discords adding spice to the generally heavy funk, and even George Benson goes a little crazy at times. Dirty.
So, there you have it – ten of the best tracks that were never recorded by famous acts we all know and love.
There is, of course, an associated “mixtape”, and all suggestions for other tracks are extremely welcome!
There is, of course, an associated “mixtape”, and all suggestions for other tracks are extremely welcome!
Here's th' Sharkster's linkage du jour o' th' day:
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/QAUX62jhb4P
dubious claim to fame dept:
ReplyDeletesomehow i ended up with david byrne's Nuggets album
and this early import greatest hits of Kinks of his--
https://rateyourmusic.com/release/comp/the-kinks/the-kinks-the-black-album/
they were left at a mutual friend's loft and DB was getting too famous/busy to care re them so i borrowed/kept em!
altho i later mentioned to him my possession if he needed them back, he said dont worry he could get the Sire [Heads' signed label] reprint of Nuggets from the office. i ended up giving him an elvis' greatest album in dubious 'repayment'
I found it hard to get past "David Byrne's Nuggets"...
Delete... so did David Bowie.
Delete"I found it hard to get past "David Byrne's Nuggets"..."
DeleteThat's what Twyla Tharp said....
& 1 more claim, even more dubious, tho' on topic sorta:
ReplyDeletehad dinner with lenny kaye the compiler of Nuggets/patti smith collab.
and he offered a compliment to my geetar work on this tune:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yEioHccLpU
[made my eve/life]
So ... did you enjoy Steve's screed? Got any suggestions to add to the list?
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utMD5GDkLk8
Deletethis recalls the Band/Levon? singing at points...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17JVoz8iKi4
recalls ...you guessed it.
i liked Steves post but some links mighta helped appreciation
You've got the mixtape - each chrome cassette lovingly duped for you with a personalised handwritten label full of fun facts and trivia.
DeleteThen there's always that Google wotnot...
ge--lenny is not wrong...and was a very nice guy to a stoopid 20 year old boy who wanted to tell him (well, Patti, but she was manifestly uninterested..gee whiz, Ms. Smith) a paper I'd written about her version of "Gloria" for a class, lol.
DeleteHere's my first stab at it -
ReplyDeleteThe Flower Pot Men "Blow Away" (incredible Byrds sound!)
Sleepy Hollow "Sincerely Yours" (Lennon)
Dukes Of Stratosphear "Pale And Precious" (Beach Boys - the best song they never recorded)
I thought long and hard about including something from the Dukes but decided to pass. Andy and the chaps were doing that stuff very much on purpose.
DeleteHowever, I think "Chalkhills and Children" by XTC could have been a contender for a Beach Boys track they never recorded. Similarly, "The Mayor of Simpleton" might have done for the Byrds.
Chalkhills and Children is such a wonderful song on a wonderful album.
DeleteNice idea Steve and swell screeded to boot, I just grabbed that chrome cassette gonna pop it into my ghetto blaster right now.
ReplyDeleteInteresting parlor game! It's too early in the morning for me to think clearly enough to participate, but I will point out that Mountain is a little bit of a ringer in this group in that Felix Pappalardi is almost (like Robert Hunter and The Grateful Dead) a member of Cream.
ReplyDeleteYes, it was a very obvious choice, I suppose, but it was just such a perfect song for Cream. and such a great one that I was just glad of a chance to share it.
DeleteIt is a swell tune, and there's an incoming FoamFeature© on Jack The Bruce waiting in the future for us to arrive at it. Yes, it's already in the future, right in this present moment!
DeleteLove this, day made (OK, OK, doesn't take much, but, hey, still).
ReplyDeleteGiven y'all's chops and knowledge, more sounds just right--thank you
Best Beatles song: Nirvana's "About a Girl"
Los Bravos - Black is Black outdoes Gene Pitney.
ReplyDeleteKlaatu's Sub-Rosa Subway could be those Liverpool lads.
Cool beans -- thanks Mr. Shark! I wish I could think of a worthy sound alike but I'm still gasping for breath after seeing the new hottie that washed up on our shore. Oui oui mon cherie!
ReplyDeleteYou cannot have her. She scorns you.
DeleteNobody's gonna mention 'Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress' as the best song Creedence never wrote? 'Horse With No Name' as the best song Neil Young never wrote? For the more obscure, Explorer's Club's 'Forever' outdoes even the fine examples of mid-60s Beach Boys offered above. And then there's Rhinobucket -- pick anything, really, off 'Get Used To It', but 'Beat To Death Like A Dog' will have you wondering if Bon Scott-era AC/DC was flash-frozen in 1979 and then reconstituted in 1992.
ReplyDeleteC in California
No, nobody's gonna mention those because we were all holding back because we knew they were the only ones you knew.
DeleteYes, but the question is....did I "know" them in the biblical sense? I mean, three of my proffered titles have mammals in them.....not that I'm against snake-snoggers or shark-shtuppers. T'each his/her own, say I.
DeleteC in California
I try not to get shtupped...
DeleteIt dawns on me that combining 'snake' and 'shark' whelps 'snark' -- a beast that seems to have the run of the Isle.
DeleteHmm ... "snark" is a thought-crime invented by Millennials, yes?
DeleteThe only Snark you find on th' Iof© is a Boojum.
Very cool, SteveShark!
ReplyDelete"Bad Thing" could also be a Humble Pie tune, with Garry Glitter's drummer sitting in for Jerry Shirley.
The Knickerbockers' "Lies" would fit perfectly on one of the "Anthology" albums. I found a video, and the guitarist even plays a Rickenbacker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH9YRpz757Y&ab_channel=debicarson
Your comments on Miles Davis/Freddie Hubbard Mr Clean are right on. Straight Life is an old favorite.
Thank You.
Here's the Flower Pot Men with this:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrdQlQKSzR0
Killer stuff from an act I never took seriously at the time. I knew they were formerly the soft rockers The Ivy League and never bothered with them.
DeleteA Publis Execution by Mouse & The Traps. Couldn't be more Dylan if they tried
ReplyDeleteLewis Taylor.
ReplyDeleteWhat a guy. Incomparable, but he doesn't mind showing his influences . . .
Maybe The Beach Boys - https://youtu.be/EJoXPdiFi90
Maybe Marvin Gaye - https://youtu.be/53jkYsiF9PE
Search YouTube and there are a few other clips that bring to mind Darryl Hall, Sly Stone . . . but all the comparisons are just compliments: Lewis Taylor has talent to spare and his reluctance to deal with stardom is our loss.
As Farq knows, he even has a pretty good stab at Trout Mask Replica.
Cheers, Peanuts Molloy.
https://falsememoryfoam.blogspot.com/search?q=lewis+taylor
Delete"All Around You" by Sturgill Simpson sounds like Van Morrison to me, but I'm the guy who, back in the last century, had a Maxell C90 mixtape with no label (of course) and for years I thought that "Speaking in Tongues" by Greg Brown was a Morrison track, so there you go.
ReplyDelete