It’s Fall 2013 and things are getting weird. It’s been a while since we’ve had a new mixtape around here, and it seems to have gone in a much darker, druggier direction this time. Maybe it’s all the weird Criterion shit I’ve been watching on Hulu Plus. Christ, I saw this thing last night and it kinda made sense to me. This might not be a good thing. As per usual, all of these cuts are from LPs I found digging through 100s of 1000s of dirty old records at the flea markets, estate sales, and thrift shops of southern CT… mastered in pro tools via my trusty Benz Micro cartridge. Where youtube links are available, I’ve provided them below. If you see me, ask me for a copy of the CD…
1. Endle St Cloud “Street Corner Preacher”
2. The Beacon Street Union “Mystic Mourning“
3. Street “If I Needed Someone”
4. Edwin Starr “My Sweet Lord”
5. David Porter “Didn’t Know Love Was So Good”
7. Mandrill “Afrikus Retrospectus”
8. Lonnie Liston Smith “In Search Of Truth”
9. Backstreet Crawler “It’s A Long Way Down To The Top”
10. Lee Clayton “I Ride Alone”
11. The Devil’s Anvil “Karkadon”
13. Smokey John Bull “The Mighty Quinn”
14. Potliquor “Beyond The River Jordan”
15. Don Nix “Until Tomorrow”
For detailed track information and more of the best album-artwork of all time, click the link below to READ ON…
1. Endle St Cloud “Street Corner Preacher” from the LP Thank You Very Much, International Artists 1968. I dunno what was in the water in Texas in the 60s… but this shit is nuts. And then add Bubble Puppy, the Elevators, Fever Tree… killer. Truly psychedelic music.
2. The Beacon Street Union “Mystic Mourning” from the LP The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union, MGM 1968. Almost Can-like in its minimal drone, this is the most pysch cut on this LP. Tom Wilson, one of my all-time favs, makes an appearance as well with a ‘recitation.’
3. Street “If I Needed Someone” Verve 196ty… I’m gonna just guess and say 8. Sticking with the droney, psych-y theme… here’s another obscure band from the 60s, this time with a Grace-Slick-esque vocal.
4. Edwin Starr “My Sweet Lord” from the LP Involved, Motown 1971. ‘All Things Must Pass’ sure has its moments, many in fact, but i’ll take Starr’s version of this song over GH’s. Fkkn ring-mod gtr lead? Yes pls. Space Gospel.
5. David Porter “Didn’t Know Love Was So Good” from the LP Sweat And Love, Enterprise/Stax 1973. Legendary writer D Porter ‘s final Stax solo LP opens with this absolute mfkkr. Oh the hits this dude wrote. I find it surprising that this track was never sampled on a hip hop hit. Or???
6. Cymande “Bird” from Second Time Round, Janus Record 1973. Another killer minimal midnight soul track. So lo fi and cool. Let the bass do all the work. Drums, three perc tracks, bass, and a gtr with the top rolled off. Love it.
7. Mandrill “Afrikus Retrospectus” from Just Outside Of Town, Polydor 1973. Great record all around, but this cut really captures a clean minimal aesthetic that has much more in common with 70s Euro TV and film music than any other midwest US funk that I’ve heard. Also reminds me a bit of the great Bo Hansson.
8. Lonnie Liston Smith “In Search Of Truth” from the LP Astral Traveling, Flying Dutchman 1973. I don’t listen to too much jazz these days but this wonderful track is really just a stones-thrown away from the psych and low-key minimal soul tracks that i dig.
9. Backstreet Crawler “It’s A Long Way Down To The Top” from the LP The Band Plays On, ATCO 1975. If you like the FREE ballads, you will like this, no surprise… this is Kossoff’s post-FREE group. He died shortly after this was recorded.
10. Lee Clayton “I Ride Alone” from the LP “Naked Child” Capitol 1979. I love this song. I found this track one day after some youtube skipping-from-one-forgotten-country-jam-to-another and I was blown away. This track lives in its own non-genre. It’s kinda mark-knofler esque, but also v v dylan, but then there’s this whole ZZ top hi-tech-redneck thing going on… this song sounds like my ’86 Camaro Berlinetta smelled. Oh BTW Clayton pretty much invented the category of ‘outlaw country’ in the early 70s. The whole record is good btw.
11. The Devil’s Anvil “Karkadon” from the LP Hard Rock From The Middle East, Columbia 1968. I picked this up along with a buncha other rare circa-1968 Columbia rock LPS (many were promos) at an estate sale in Norwalk last year. Weirder: there were only like 20 records and they were all pretty rare, and all from that same period. I wonder if ‘the departed’ worked at Columbia for a minute in the late 60s?
12. Dr John “One Night Late” from the LP Anytime Anyplace, Scepter 1974. Exactly what the title says. A Lo-Fi, tossed-off jam that McCartney would have loved to have made himself. Soul guys do surf.
13. Smokey John Bull “The Mighty Quinn” from the s/t 196* AVCO LP. CT represent! I dunno where I happened upon this promo copy of the (only?) Smokey John Bull record. This Hartford-CT based band tracked at Fiesta Studios in Hartford in the late 60s by one Doug Clark. Doug, if yr out there, drop us a line.
14. Potliquor “Beyond The River Jordan” from the LP Levee Blues, Janus 1970. Great Spooky-Tooth-esque gospel blues from this forgotten 70’s southern-rock group. what a sound. Singer George had earlier been in The Basement Wall, who we will hear from on the next mixtape…
15. Don Nix “Until Tomorrow” from the LP Gone Too Long, Cream 1976. OK so it’s three years later and former BarKeys Bari man Nix has moved across Memphis from Stax to Cream. And he closes the LP with this Hazlewood / Serge-esque track. WTF? You know it’s forreal when he breaks out the sax for the coda.
16. Lucio Battisti “Il Fuoco” from the LP (?) Umanamente Uomo: Il Sogno, Numero Uno 1972. This is the second time that Battisti has made the cut here, and this is truly one of the best guitar-FX pieces that I have ever heard. It still sounds fresh forty years on. Great record all around.
2 replies on “Fall 2013 Mixtape”
Coincidentally, I pulled out Don Nix’s “Hobos, Heroes & Street Corner Clowns” (which, by the title, always reminds me of GG Allin’s “Freaks, Faggots, Drunks & Junkies,” though the music bears no similarities) after seeing the Muscle Shoals documentary yesterday. Also coincidentally, the same photo of Nix that you posted above appears in the gatefold of the “Hobos” LP. Looking forward to listening to this mix. Thanks!
Forgot all about Mandrill. Thanks for that tune.