Alice Cooper & The Muppets - "Welcome To My Nightmare"

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FRIENDS!

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!

Danzig - "Am I Demon"

Hello Friends,

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!

TV On The Radio - "Wolf Like Me"

Hello Friends,

Its Halloween all week long on Vinyl in the Valley!

Tonight we're listening to Brooklyn, New York's TV on the Radio's epic, "Wolf Like Me" from the 2006 release, Return to Cookie Mountain.

A couple of years ago, Chicago's favorite two-piece band, Local H did a pretty outstanding cover version as well.  Definitely worth a listen.

We're howling forever!

Shane MacGowan & the Popes - "Haunted"

Hello Friends,

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"!

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - "Mind Crawler"

Hello Friends,

Its Halloween week on Vinyl in the Valley.

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!

Indigos

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

Johnny Cash & Waylon Jennings - "There Ain't No Good Chain Gang"

Hello Friends and Happy Friday,

Here's a great outlaw country song from 1978.  

If nothing else I've learned four things from this song:

1) There ain't no good in an evil-hearted woman,

2) I ain't cut out to be no Jesse James,

3) You don't go writin' hot checks down in Mississippi, and

4) There ain't no good chain gang!

On a related note, can you imagine the massive amount of speed consumed by these two after this performance? 

They probably drove cross-country afterwards! #thegoodol'days

Isaac Rother And The Phantoms - "Mima Mounds"

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!

http://isaacrother.com/

Movie Night: KISS Loves You

Hello Friends,

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*.  

(* not really)