Some French Dick

Dick Contino with David Carroll and his Orchestra - "An Accordion in Paris" (1956) - Mercury Records

Bonjour Friends,

Dim the lights, light some candles and pop open a bottle of your favorite Bordeaux tonight on Vinyl in the Valley.

We've got the fast and talented fingers of Mr. Dick Contino on the turntable tonight!

Also, we love the album cover!  Seems legit.

RATING: 3.5 strapped on dicks out of 5

The Monkees - "Valleri" (1966)

Hello Friends,

One of our favorite Monkees songs!

That's a session guitarist by the name of Louie Shelton on those flamenco-style guitar fills!

Enjoy!

The Birds, The Bees and The Monkees

The Monkees - "The Birds, The Bees and The Monkees" (1968) - Colgems

Hey Hey Friends,

The Birds, The Bees and The Monkees is the band's fifth album in just two years!  With a string of hits under their belts, as well as a hit television series in its second season, what a run it had been for Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith & Peter Tork.  Something was bound to give and the overall sound of this record is the sounds of the other shoe beginning to drop! 

If Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd was the band's Sgt Peppers, then Birds & Bees is their White Album.

It would be their first album produced by the band themselves and not by Chip Douglas or the Boyce & Hart team.  As The Monkees became viewed as more of a legitimate "band" and less of a gimmick (especially on their previous two records), this album ironically finds the boys breaking off into individual factions with each member picking their own material and producing their own sessions. Peter Tork, for some reason, is barely present and, in fact, there are only two songs on the LP that feature more than one Monkee on them: "Auntie's Municipal Court" & "Daydream Believer".

Still its a pretty great (and fun) late 60's pop record with some real hints of some interesting, darker stuff bubbling beneath the surface.

Side One is home to the amazing "Dream World" (Davy Jones at his best), the Dolenz-sung "Auntie's Municipal Court", Jones' sappy "We Were Made For Each Other", Nesmith's psychedelia-tinged "Tapioca Tundra", the beloved "Daydream Believer" and Nesmith's ominious and organ-laden "Writing Wrongs" (which plods along and sounds more like something by early Procol Harum than something by a manufactured bubblegum pop group!)

Side Two falls everso slightly off with the shuffling "I'll Be Back Up On My Feet" (featuring more annoying horns that your average Herb Alpert recording!); another charming Jones composition "The Poster" (a nod to The Beatles "Benefit of Mr. Kite"?); Dolenz's terrifically upbeat "P.O. Box 9847"; Nesmith's old-timey-sounding (no thanks!) "Magnolia Simms" and the album's other hit, the great "Valleri".  

The Dolenz-penned and sung "Zor and Zam" closes things out.  There's marching band drums, some noodling lead guitar, some booming brass, a strong antiwar sentiment and some psychedelic sound effects thrown in for good measure.  By this stage in the game, The Monkees were surely outgrowing their pre-teen audiences.  

If you thought this one was a little weird, their next record, the soundtrack to the movie Head, would truly be a mindfuck!

RATING: 4 six o'clock alarms that never ring out of 5

The Box Tops - "The Letter" (1967)

Happy Friday Friends!

Here's a clip of The Box Tops singing their hit, "The Letter" on Cleveland Ohio's syndicated variety show, Upbeat in 1967.

Alex Chilton was only 16 years old as this song skyrocketed to # 1 on the Billboard Charts.

When I was 16 I was practicing how to remove a bra using a bra I stole from my sister on a Winnie The Pooh doll!

Enjoy! 

The Willie Way

Willie Nelson - "The Willie Way" (1972) - RCA Records

Hello Friends,

Really good Willie Nelson record from his Nashville days.  Much more traditional sounding than his "outlaw" sound that was peeking just around the corner.  

As usual it features some great Nelson songwriting on songs like "You Left Me A Long, Long Time Ago", "Wake Me When Its Over", "A Moment Isn't Very Long" and "I'd Rather You Didn't Love Me" and a couple of covers as well, including the fantastic take on the Kristofferson-penned, "Help Me Make It Through The Night".

The Willie Way would be his last record for RCA and would also mark his departure from the country music capital to the much weirder scene going on in mid-70's Austin, Texas.

Light 'em up Willie!

RATING: 4 jugs full of good ol' Mountain Dew out of 5

Sticky Fingers

Ohio Players - "Honey" (1975) - Mercury Records

Listen girl,

Don't you hold on to me for the things that I've got.

Its heating up outside and its getting warm in here too!  I'll pour some cocktails, dim the lights and put this record on the turntable while you slip out of those sticky clothes!

Last year we got down and dirty with the Ohio Players' fantastic fifth record, Skin Tight, and tonight we've got their seventh record on the turntable and its almost as funktastic!

This is album oozes stickiness.  (in a good way!)

Beginning with quiet and fluttering piano notes that seem to descend to Earth from above the clouds, the sultry "Honey" gets thing started nice and easy. You so, so sweet girl, you're so sweet like honey.  It keeps me stuck on you girl.  

It almost makes me wish that the tiki bar had a lava lamp!

Hey that drum beat intro sounds familiar on the next song!  Is it Paradise City?  Nope.  It's "Fopp". As in Fopp with me and I'll Fopp with you and Fopped so hard that I lost my shoe!

Things slow down to a sensual pace again on "Let's Love" because it takes an L and an O and a V and an E. 

"Ain't Givin' Up No Ground" is insanely funky and threatens to break up the mood a little luckily the dancing fingers of Billy Beck are there to save us once again with the flittering notes of his electric piano.

Side Two is equally as hot sticky & sweet with the rather remarkable "Sweet Sticky Thing". Your beehive is full of bees, I wish you had a place for me.  Will you share your beehive with me, you sweet, sticky thing? 

Oh shit!  Things are warming up again and its time for a second wind.  "Love Rollercoaster" would be The Ohio Players' second # 1 hit and is one of the bounciest tunes in all of funkdom.  I want to ride, yeaah!

If you're not dancing around the tiki bar when this song comes on, you just might be passed out.

We're in the home stretch now girl.  This record's about to end and we've got some unfinished business.  Let's quiet things down a bit, sit back and enjoy.

Unfortunately, things get downright dark and maudlin on the closing number, "Alone".  

I don't want to be alone.  Pick me up off the floor. Jeez... you don't want to be alone? Well then stop covering your dates in honey and taking them to amusement parks!!

FUN FACT: Hey kids, did you know that there was an urban legend that the blood-curdling scream heard at about the 2:30 mark in "Love Rollercoaster" was of the LP's cover model screaming in agony as batches of hot honey were poured down her naked body?  Actually, its a scream from one of the band members imitating a scream he might have had on a rollercoaster.  As far as we know, no one was hurt, maimed or murdered while shooting the album's cover art.  

By the way, the cover model is Ester Cordet, a stewardess, who was a also Playboy Magazine's first Latin Playmate.  Here's some more of Ester.  Enjoy!

RATING: 4 Sweet Sticky Things Leaving Honey Everywhere out of 5

Fandango!

ZZ Top - "Fandango!" (1975) - London Records

Hello Friends,

Fandango! is ZZ Top's fourth album.  Released in 1975, the first side of the album is a "live" recording from a performance at The Warehouse in New Orleans the previous year. The second side of the record is the new studio stuff, featuring some good old fashioned ZZ Top-style boogie-woogie swamp rock.

Honestly, we're not really in love with Side One.  Jacked-up boogie-blues rock.  It may have been impressive to see live and in person (especially back in '75), but it just doesn't translate all that well to modern ears.

The opener "Thunderbird" is pretty good, but "Jailhouse Rock" is pretty pedestrian and the "Backdoor Medley" (featuring "Mellow Down Easy" by Willie Dixon & "Long Distance Boogie" by John Lee Hooker") goes on a bit too long for our liking.  And, as long as we're being honest, we find Billy Gibbons's vocal acrobatics to be more distracting than good.  Leave that shit to Peter Wolfe on those classic J. Geils' records!

Luckily, Side Two kind of saves the day.

Great riffs, tight rhythms and lyrics sleazy enough to make Ted Nugent blush!

"Nasty Dogs and Funky Kings" absolutely shreds.  "Blue Jeans Blues" is the most beautifully heartbreaking blues song about a pair of pants since "Bell Bottom Blues".  It almost sounds like a hillbilly version of something found on an early Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac record.

"Balinese" pays tribute to The Balinese Room, a legendary Galveston nightclub of days gone by that featured live bands, lots of dancing, stiff drinks, loose women and plenty of gambling.  Sinatra, Bob Hope, The Marx Bros and many other would perform there.  It became a favorite getaway spot for wealthy Houston oil barons looking to get away and let loose for a few hours, or days.

"Mexican Blackbird" is alright (and slightly racist), but "Heard it On the X" is a real South Texas scorcher.  Its a song about rock and roll radio stations that used to be broadcast from Mexico that you could pick up in Texas.  Kind of like pirate radio.  The call letters for these Mexican stations always began with an "X", hence the song title.

The album ends with ZZ Top's biggest hit to date, the classic rock radio staple, "Tush". Sure its a bit overdone and overplayed, but its still a pretty fun song to have on your car stereo when driving around on a warm Summer Saturday and checking out all the girls in their skimpy summer clothes! 




RATING: 3.5 country jesus hillbilly blues thats where I learned my licks out of 5

Duke Ellington - "Take The A Train" (1964)

Hello Friends,

Keepin' it classy on a Friday! Is it 5 o'clock yet?

Great live version of Ellington's theme tune from 1964.

Featuring a rare on-camera clip of composer Billy Strayhorn! 

That's Ernie Shepard on double-bass & vocals!

Enjoy!

Pendulum

Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Pendulum" (1970) - Fantasy Records

Hello Friends,

Summer's here kids.  BBQs, bikinis & late night keggers at the beach!  Of course, we've gotta have some Creedence Clearwater Revival on the turntable! 

Pendulum would be the band's sixth studio record (within two years!) and their last great record.  (Their last official studio release would be 1972's Mardi Gras, but the train had long left the station!)  From 1968 to 1970 it was quite a run, putting them in the conversation for greatest American band of all time!  (Sorry Hanson!)

Things get kicked off with the 6+ minute ass-kicking jam of "Pagan Baby".  Amazing!

That's followed by two funky, rootsy rockers, "Sailor's Lament" & "Chameleon", both of which feature horn-sections provided by singer-guitarist John Fogerty himself!

The next song is the classic ballad, "Have You Ever Seen The Rain?" which is Fogerty's melancholic take on either The Viet Nam War, the idealism of the 60's quickly fading into the cold cynicism of the 70's, or about mounting tensions within the group itself.  Or maybe its just about the weather.  Sometimes the simplest answers are the best answers, and most eloquent!

And speaking of being sad & eloquent in the rain, the amazing "(Wish I Could) Hideaway" with its blistering organ (again courtesy of Fogerty) closes out an amazing Side One.

Maybe the album is called Pendulum because in the band's eyes things were literally swinging the other way.  They did so much in such a short amount of time that maybe by 1970 their fame and fortunes were catching up with them and wearing them down. Everyone in the band (except John's brother Tom, who was a few years older) was only around 25 by the time this album came out.  I don't know about you kids, but I was a real fuck-up at 25.  I can't imagine how intolerable, intoxicated & jaded I would have been if I was fronting one of the biggest and most successful rock bands in the country at that ripe age!  Give them credit for being able to stand-up, let alone for writing some unforgettable rock & roll tunes.

Side Two kicks off with the blistering (and organ/horn-laden) boogie, "Born to Move".

Next up is one of our favorite rocking Creedence tunes, "Hey Tonight" followed by another heartbreaker, "It's Just A Thought", featuring some more melancholic organ and lyrics courtesy of Fogerty.  For a guy with a dutch boy haircut in a flannel shirt, he sure is pretty deep!

"Molina" and "Rude Awakening #2" close out the record, the latter being a pretty strong instrumental that dissipates into a six minute meandering piece of avant-garde.  Not a great end to the album, but still a great album!

RATING: 4.5 Jody's Gonna Get Religion All Night Long out of 5

Sergio Mendes still has a cult following!

Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 - "Crystal Illusions" (1969) - A&M Records

Hello Friends,

Crystal Illusions is not as good as Sergio Mendes' landmark LP, Look Around, but its still a good listen especially on a warm, late spring evening with the sun going down, a cocktail in hand and a pretty girl sitting next to you on the patio! 

Bossa Nova at its swinging best!

An exotic and lush cover of "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" kicks things off, but the real star of the record are the sultry vocal stylings of Ms. Lani Hall (who sings in both English & Portuguese.)  When you hear her on songs like "Salt Sea" or "Empty Faces" it almost makes you want to drink more, scheme more and get into some good kinds of trouble.

Another standout is the album's closer and title track.  A bit of a psychedelic soundscape clocking in at almost 8 minutes featuring lots of shuffling rhythms and Mendes's electric piano.

Of course, the album was produced by Mr. Lani Hall (aka Herb Alpert) and many of the arrangements/orchestrations were composed by legendary jazz composer, Dave Grusin.

RATING: 3.5 watching the wind blow tasting the salt seas out of 5

Apeman Spaceman - "SPACECATRAZ" (2016)

Check it out kids!  Some fancy new indie rock band from London, England featuring members of Dogs & Razorlight!  These kids know how to write a hook!

Enjoy!