Its our favorite holiday here on Vinyl in the Valley and we're celebrating with the unofficial godfather of all things Halloween, Alice Cooper.
Here's a fantastic clip of Alice performing "Welcome to My Nightmare" on an 1978 episode of The Muppet Show! Fan-fucking-tastic!
So friends, beware of ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night... we're off to go trick-or-treating and we'll (hopefully) conjure up some demons along the way!
What's Halloween without everyone's favorite dwarf misfit on the jukebox?
"Am I Demon" is from Danzig's 1988 self-titled debut record which is definitely worth a listen. Great song that's pretty representative of Danzig's Misfits-meets-Sabbath sound!
Back in the day, before Halloween, the Irish celebrated the pagan holiday of Samhain (which translates to "the end of summer"). During Samhain, The Celts believed that the dead would rise and roam the earth and the only way to protect yourself from them was to light fires, dress in costumes and, no doubt, drink heavily!
Here's everyone's favorite Irishman, Shane MacGowan duetting with Sinead O'Connor on the 1995 song, "Haunted" (A song originally recorded by The Pogues for the film, Sid & Nancy, featuring Cait O'Riordan on the girl part.)
It addition to being a sultry and haunting torch song, this has one of MacGowan's greatest lyrics: "You were so cool, you could have put out Vietnam"!
We're carving up some pumpkins and gettin' ready to TP the neighborhood!
To help boost our spirits, here's some Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats with a super creepy video for their 2013 song, "Mind Crawler" (from the album Mind Control).
Some Sabbath-inspired stoner rock from Cambridge, England. There's plenty of motorcycles, Manson, skulls, Satanists & naked writing bodies... I wish our Halloween was more like this!
Duke Ellington and His Orchestra - "Ellington Indigos" (1958) - Columbia Records
Hello Friends,
Sipping a well-made Old Fashioned with some Duke Ellington on the turntable sounds like a perfect Fall record for a perfect Fall night!
This 1958 recording of ballads and torch songs is nothing short of masterful. Laid-back, incredibly melodic, warm and familiar, the eight songs here capture the immortal Ellington at his atmospheric finest, setting the perfect mood for an October evening in New England: a full moon rising in the burnt black sky, the stars out in full array, the ubiquitous rustling of leaves, a lone dog howls in the distance. The opening track, "Solitude" (an Ellington original from 1934) is worth the price of admission alone. It begins with Ellington's lone, sad-sounding piano stumbling through the melody for two minutes until the tempo picks up and the full band kicks in! Side One is also home to Rodgers & Hart's "Where or When" (featuring some haunting Paul Gonsalves tenor sax), "Mood Indigo" and "Autumn Leaves" (featuring Ozzie Bailey on the album's lone vocal performance!) Side Two is in very much the tone and mood as Side One. There's Ellington's own "Prelude to a Kiss" (featuring Johnny Hodges on the alto sax solo), "Willow Weep For Me" (with Shorty Baker on trumpet), "Tenderly" (Jimmy Hamilton on clarinet) and "Dancing in the Dark" (Harry Carney on baritone sax). Another terrific set by Duke and the boys! Time for another Old Fashioned! RATING: 4.5 I Miss You Most of All My Darling When Autumn Leaves Start to Fall out of 5
Hello Friends, Some fun Horror-billy straight outta L.A. Fun song! Great video! Lots of boobs! And get your minds outta the gutter, kids, Mima Mounds are a real thing!
Now here's a guy that gets it! Rock on Isaac, rock on!
Grab your popcorn and pull up a stool, its Movie Night again on Vinyl in the Valley!
Tonight we're watching a 2004 documentary about the self-proclaimed world's greatest rock & roll band and their loyal legions of devoted fans, KISS Loves You.
The film begins in 1994. Its been over 10 years since the band toured with their makeup on and even longer since the four original members performed together. KISS cover bands and KISS conventions become a sort of cottage industry for fans nostalgic for the music, the kabuki makeup, the comic books and the pyrotechnics.
All this changed by 1996 when the original members of KISS decided to reunite, don their makeup and go on a massive world tour-- putting the novelty of a lot of the cover bands on the back burner. (Also, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley were pretty aggressive in putting an end to unauthorized KISS conventions... jerks!)
Speaking of jerks, one of the film's most memorable stories has to do with Ace Frehley-imitator, Bill Baker. Bill played the Spaceman in a pretty solid Ace Frehley tribute band, "Fractured Mirror". He talks about how through the years he and Ace actually became sort of friends. Ace would hook him up with an old guitar or some old costumes and Bill would help his "friend" Ace out occasionally as well. He'd help him move, lend him money, etc. When KISS reunited, Bill called Ace to see if he could get him some concert tickets and, you guessed it, Ace dropped him like a hot potato! Poor Bill, you've been Aced!
The documentary is pretty interesting. Its a DIY, low budget affair that has some great interviews with various fans and musicians like Dee Snider, Sebastian Bach, Handsome Dick Manitoba and Jerry Only. The film is at its core an ode to fandom and fans of KISS just happen to be some of rock & roll's most fanatical!
We give this one two raised cocktail glasses!
We'll see you next time, friends, until then the Tiki Bar is closed*.
Wow! What a fucking boot-stomper! Great video and great song from German motorcycle-blues-garage rock duo, The Picturebooks. This is what The Black Keys should sound like! This song is from their October 2014 release, Imaginary Horse. Check it out at their great label, Riding Easy Records. Raw, stripped-down blues, trains, motorcycles and a smoking hot brunette to boot! What's not to love? We think The Picturebooks are going places, friends! Here's the band's website.
Modest Mussorgsky - "Russian Songs from 'Songs and Dances' of Death" (1978) - Summit
Hello Friends,
October's here. Days are shorter, leaves are changing and we're classing the place up with some Russian songs and dances of death courtesy of one of our favorite Russian composers, Modesto Mussorgsky.
Mussorgsky (1839 - 1881) was one of five important composers from the mid-19th Century whose work focused on themes unique to Mother Russia and who often turned to Russian folklore for inspiration. Late in his career and deep in the throes of alcoholism, he would compose his "Songs and Dances of Death" song cycle, one of his last important works. Written for piano and voice (usually a bass or baritone), the song cycle is comprised of 4 compositions with macabre lyrics based on really dark poems by a friend of the composer, Count Arseny Golenischev-Kutuzov. On this particular record the piano duties are handled by Giorgio Favaretto and the bass vocals by Nicolo Rossi-Lemini, two very distinct, non-Russian names! Obviously these songs are sung in operatic Russian. But a quick look at the English translations reveal some of the best death lyrics ever written:
A child is groaning... A candle, burning out,
Dimly flickers onto surroundings.
The whole night, rocking the cradle,
A mother has not dozed away with sleep...
Magical languor, blue night,
Trembling darkness of spring.
The sick girl takes in, with her head dropped,
The whisper of the night's silence...
Your body is tender, your trembling is ravishing...
Oh, I'll suffocate you
in my strong embraces: listen to my seductive
chatter! ... be silent!... You are mine!"...
Forest and glades, no one is around.
A snow-storm is crying and groaning,
It feels as in the gloom of the night
The Evil One is burying someone...
The battle is thundering, the armour is shining,
Copper cannons are roaring,
The troops are running, the horses are rushing
And red rivers are flowing.
The midday is blazing -- people are fighting,
The sun is declining -- the fight is stronger,
The sunset is fading away -- but the enemies
Are still battling more fierce and hateful.
And night has fallen on the battlefield.
In a nutshell, Trepak takes place on a bleak and snowy night when death comes along and begins dancing with drunken peasants. Death tempts the revelers into eternal sleep with thoughts of Summer, warmth and contentment. Lullaby is being sung by a mother to her dying child while in Serenade a young ailing girl is being serenaded by a seductive Death who sings outside of her window. The fourth and final piece of the song-cycle is The Field-Marshall (or The General) in which Death assumes the guise of a General overlooking the slaughter on the day's battlefield with a certain grim satisfaction. In tribute to the fallen, Death will conduct a dance of death over their bones at midnight! Weird shit!
Because the song-cycle only occupies about 20 minutes (or a single album side) of space, this LP is rounded out with some of Mussorgky's shorter vocal works including, Song of the Flea, Where Are You Little Star, The Grave, The Seminarist & The Old Man's Song. All are pretty good, but we really like the Death stuff!
In our experience, cold nights, warm, flowing drinks, Russians and the spectre of death all seem to go pretty hand-in-hand, so this album is going to be a favorite on our October turntable! NOSTROVIA!
Grab your popcorn and pull up a stool, its Movie Night again on Vinyl in the Valley!
Tonight we're watching a documentary on the extraordinary rock & roll life of Cream drummer, Ginger Baker, Beware of Mr. Baker.
Hey kids, how many times have you wondered to yourself, "Hey, I wonder what happened to Ginger Baker after Cream and Blind Faith broke up? What's he been up to?"
WHAT? You've never pondered the fate of one of rock's greatest drummers? Whether you have or not, the 2012 documentary, Beware of Mr. Baker, is here to answer all of your questions and get you caught up to speed!
Basically, Ginger Baker was one of rock's greatest drummers. Technically speaking, he was vastly superior to Moon or Bonham. The problem was he was a huge dick on a steady diet of drugs and booze! Pissing bandmates off and burning bridges right and left! In the Seventies, after the dissolution of both Cream & Blind Faith, Baker retreated to Africa and became good friends with Fela Kuti, whose band he would often be found sitting in with. Every couple of years, Baker would come out of hiding in order to pay some bills with a new band or a reunion of some sort. Usually, because of his short-fused temper and codgery demeanor, these would be short-lived as well!
Directed by Jay Bulger, the film centers around the director's quest to go to Baker's South African compound and get a tell-all interview that documents all the ups and downs of his career. At one point the director even gets knocked in the noggin by Baker's can!
Good interview footage with Clapton, Jack Bruce, Carmine Appice, John Lydon, amongst others. Its an interesting little film about an oft-overlooked rock icon who peaked, historically, over forty years ago and whose influence is still felt today!
We give this one two raised cocktail glasses!
We'll see you next time, friends, until then the Tiki Bar is closed*.
